Calling all PB&J fans, this Almost No Bake Peanut Butter & Jelly Dessert is right up your alley! 6 layers of delicious PB&J flavors create an awesome treat.

Two words that get my attention almost immediately=PEANUT BUTTER!  I’ve always been a huge fan and it has quite often been my go-to food, whether for breakfast, lunch or even dinner, definitely for snacking and absolutely for dessert.  So when I caught wind of a monthly blogger event by the drool-worthy name of Peanut Butter Bash…my ears perked up instantly!  What could be better than creating a peanut butter post monthly with a surprise ingredient? It sounds like a great plan to me!  This month just happens to be the ultimate companion to peanut butter ~JELLY~!  Oh yes, what could be more perfect than good old PB&J!  I bet you’ve seen a couple of peanut butter desserts on our site, we’ve enjoyed some great treats such as fudge and trifles! So we’re no strangers to our beloved peanut butter! We are friends indeed!

I began thinking of what I’d like to create, and I kept coming back to dessert (yes, I have a sweet tooth or 2 or 3) and just knew I wanted to make something special.  What I also knew I wanted was an easy dessert, I’m talking really easy.  The past couple of weeks have been go, go, go, around here and time is just crunched for everything lately.

This dessert comes together easily, and is almost no-bake!  I say almost because the 2 ingredient crust only has to bake 10 minutes, so really it is nearly no-bake.  The longest part of this recipe is allowing the crust to cool, and since I live in the deep-freeze zone known as Michigan I cheated a tad and actually set the crust outside on my porch to cool for a few minutes.  It was a time-saver, but come June I’ll just throw it into the fridge for a few to cool off.  Aside from the crust, the rest of the layers come together in just a few short minutes with creamy deliciousness throughout topped with a crunchy cookie topping compliments of Nutter Butter Bites (you know the little bite-sized version) and drizzles of fruity jelly!

I did use a couple of my favorite food items in this dish. You can sub out for other brands but I knew this dessert would be super yummy because of Nutter Butter Bites and Smucker’s Natural Strawberry Fruit Spread. Smucker’s Natural is an awesome item to have in your fridge, it has a nifty squeeze cap that lets you spread so easily.  I had to take a picture just because it made making a smooth layer so simple!
I hope you enjoy this peanut butter and jelly dessert as much as my family did, this one is most definitely a keeper!

Yield: 12 servings

Almost No Bake Peanut Butter & Jelly Dessert

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Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups graham crackers, crushed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• Smucker's Natural Strawberry Fruit Spread (or jam/jelly of your choice)
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup peanut butter, smooth
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz. Cool-Whip topping, divided
• 1 cup Nutter Butter Bites, crushed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to °350 degrees. Spray bottom of 8x8 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine crushed graham crackers and melted butter with a fork, press evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Allow to cool thoroughly.
3. With electric mixer beat together cream cheese and peanut butter until combined. Add in powdered sugar and mix until smooth and blended. Fold in 1/2 of Cool-Whip, reserve other 1/2.
4. When crust has completely cooled, spread an even layer of Smucker's Natural Strawberry Fruit Spread (or your favorite jam/jelly) over the entire crust.
5. Carefully spread peanut butter mixture over top of of jelly layer. Spread remaining 1/2 of Cool-Whip over top of peanut butter mixture.
6. Evenly sprinkle crushed Nutter Butter Bites over top of Cool-Whip layer. Drizzle top of dessert with jelly.
7. *Tip: I squeezed jelly into a zipper-top bag, squeezed jelly into one section, snipped corner of bag and used it to pipe jelly.