Ina's Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

The first time I saw Ina make this on her beach volleyball episode, I fell in love with the recipe. Nothing goes together like peanut butter and jelly! The best part is you can pick your favorite flavor of jelly. We have done all the traditional flavors, strawberry, grape, cherry, but I recently used apricot and it may very well be my new favorite. One small note, not a lot of changes on this one, but in my opinion Ina's recipe makes a little bit too much peanut butter dough for the size of the pan. This can be remedied one of two ways, I use the desired amount and freeze the leftover dough for another time or use a slightly larger pan, two 8X8 pans will work. Haven't tried it yet, but I bet the dough would make great thumbprint cookies. I have tried baking it on its own as a shortbread dough, but something is lacking, it needs the fruit.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Pound unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C Granulated sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Jumbo eggs, room temperature
2 C (18oz.) Creamy peanut butter, Ina uses Skippy, I use Jiff
3 C Flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 1/2 C (18oz) Jam, your favorite flavor
2/3 C Salted peanuts chopped optional, I don't usually add them

Prep:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray, paper, spray your pan, Ina says to paper, grease and flour, but I don't. I hate messing with the flour coating the pan.
In you electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium until light yellow. 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, eggs and peanut butter, mix on low until combined.
Mix dry ingredients, Ina says sift them, but I just stir in the salt and powder then add them to the peanut butter mixture. Mix on low just until combined.
Ina says spread 2/3 of the dough into the 9X13 cake pan, I spread about a half inch layer. Spread the jam evenly over dough, an offset spatula works best as does stirring the jam well prior to spreading. Pinch small bits of remaining dough and place on top of the jam. Don't worry about covering all the jam completely. Sprinkle with chopped nuts if desired and bake about 45 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from pan, cool and cut into squares. Enjoy with a really big glass of really cold milk!