Let's not get all crazy technical here by telling us that a brownie isn't a cookie. We already got all kinds of heat about dictionary definitions, etc when we told the lucky recipients that they were receiving the results of our cookie-baking chaos. "Cookie baking?" they asked? "Cookie?" These are brownies!

Ungrateful little *censored*. We had it in our minds to snatch the batch back and run off with our "brownies."

If we have to get technical about it, let's just say that these Peanut Butter Cream Brownies are peanut butter cream and chocolate fudge "bar cookies" and be done with it. The bottom layer is a standard fudge brownie recipe that uses cocoa powder, but if you have your own favorite recipe, use it, keeping in mind that the brownies bake in a smaller pan. In other words, if your recipe goes into a 9x13 pan, make half of it.

The top layer is a peanut butter and cream cheese mixture, hence the name Peanut Butter Cream. We used crunchy peanut butter, not because we think tiny chopped hard things tainting peanut butter is okay, but because we used all the smooth peanut butter making regular peanut butter cookies.

Creamy Crunchy Peanut Butter Brownies

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease and flour a square baking pan. We used a 9" pan because that is all we had, but an 8" pan means that the bake time will be longer and the brownies will be taller.

Sift together ½ c. all-purpose flour with 6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, ¼ tsp. baking powder, and a pinch of salt into a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together ½ c. (1 stick) melted butter, ½ c. granulated sugar, ½ c. packed brown sugar. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, then beat in 2 large eggs, one at a time, until well-blended.

Stir flour/cocoa mixture into butter/sugar mixture until well-blended. The batter is supposed to be super thick, so don't freak out. Spread into baking pan. It may require patience and muscle.

In a third bowl, beat together 1 8 oz. pkg. softened cream cheese, ½ c. crunchy peanut butter, ¼ c. granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 Tbsp whole milk, and ¼ tsp. vanilla until smooth and creamy. Pour on top of brownie batter in baking pan.

Bake for 40 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.