Peanut Butter & Jelly Cheesecake Bites

I am constantly amazed at social media. You can connect with anyone, from any walk of life at any time. I mean, we all know this but when you experience it again first hand it just reminds you how connected we can be.  Anyway, this post and recipe is directly related to the power of social media. How, you ask – well, let me share a quick story with you.

I was venturing around my favorite places on the web and I stumbled upon this awesome little blog called Once Upon a Loaf. It caught my eye first because it’s a really good looking blog and second because it’s about baking (I love me a baked good) and third, I’m experimenting with artisanal bread and I need all the help I can get. So, I bookmarked it and followed it on Twitter.

A few minutes after I clicked that little ‘T’ button, I had a direct message from Cindy, the blogger behind Once Upon a Loaf.  It wasn’t just the standard ‘thanks for following me’- it was a real message. We got to chatting and she invited me to participate in this awesome little contest she and one of her blogger friends were running, called Project PB&J, in celebration of National PB&J day on April 2^nd.

So, here’s my creation and the rest is history.

Here these beauties are in all their peanut butter jammy goodness.

The crust is sweet and cakey which is an interesting departure from the standard graham cracker crust – I wanted something a bit more substantial.

So, I could only show you the finished product. I actually baked these one evening over at my sisters house – my oven broke right before I set out to make these. Downside, no oven – upside, I get an oven upgrade. I’m dreaming of a Viking, Wolf or Thermador range – something professional (and pretty), useful (and pretty) and efficient (and pretty).

You can tell you love to cook when the idea of getting a new oven is like the best thing ever.

Cheesecake and peanut butter, can you get any better than that? Not sure its possible.

I hope you get to make these tasty little treats very soon. Happy Peanut Butter & Jelly day!!

much love!
jess

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Peanut Butter & Jelly Cheesecake Bites

Crust
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 18 oz jar creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
3 eggs
4 oz. sour cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla
¼ cup jelly, jam or preserves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare 13x9x3 baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer add the yellow cake mix, egg and melted butter, mix until well combined. Pour out into parchment lined pan and spread evenly over in the bottom of the pan.

Cream the sugar, cream cheese, sour cream and flour with a stand or hand mixer on medium until light and fluffy.

On medium low, add the peanut butter until well combined. Next, add the vanilla followed by the eggs adding one at a time, mixing well with each addition.

Pour over crust and evenly smooth out. Add dollops of approximately ½ teaspoon of jam every few inches. Take a wooden skewer and run it gently through the jam and cheesecake mix to make swirls.

Bake for approximately 40 – 45 minutes or until set. Let cool and then chill in refrigerator in the baking pan for at least 2 hours before slicing.

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