The Best Peanut Butter Brownie Swirl Cookies

Prep Time:20

Cook Time:10

Chill Time:30

Total Time:1

In a stand mixer, cream together your butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended and smooth.
Add in the eggs, mixing in one at a time.
Mix in the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients until well combined and lumps are gone: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Begin adding your dry ingredients to the wet mixture about 1/2 cup at a time until the dough comes together and is well combined. Set aside.

With your stand mixer and whisk attachment, mix together the peanut butter, softened cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream and vanilla until well combined and mostly smooth.

Roll out about 20" of wax paper. This leaves excess on the edges - you'll see why later.
Take your cookie dough and using a silicone spatula or your hands, gently press the dough onto the paper into a rectangle, approximately 13" x 10".
Layer on the peanut butter mixture so that it evenly covers the cookie dough.
Very carefully, begin to roll the cookie dough into a log, using the wax paper to help keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Once rolled as tight as you can, you can twist each end of the wax paper so the the cookie dough roll is completely covered. This will make a thick roll. Don't worry, there won't be many layers of swirls, so don't feel like you did something wrong!
Place the cookie dough log in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes or in the fridge for 2 hours or more before baking. Baking these cookies cold is important!

While the dough chills, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Once preheated pull your dough out of the fridge or freezer.
Using a large knife, cut about 6 cookies approximately 1/2" thick from the cookie dough log. These cookies are large and I can only comfortably fit about 2 rows of 3 on my large nonstick cookie sheet. Note that your cookies could slightly come apart or tear, but they easily push back together. Rest assured that they do not require the "perfect" swirl to taste amazing!
Bake for 10 minutes at 375 and keep the cookie dough in the fridge between batches.
Allow them to cool on the tray for 3-5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days in an air-tight container.

Cutting & Baking the Cookies:

Your cookies could slightly come apart or tear as you cut them off the log, but they easily push back together. Rest assured that they do not require the "perfect" swirl to taste amazing!
Be sure you bake them from cold! This helps them to keep them from spreading too much. They bake rather larger, so the more you can reduce spreading, the better!

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions:

You can use regular granulated sugar. It doesn't have to be cane. I've used both!
It also doesn't have to be Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate cocoa, but that is our favorite. It's perfect for cookies, brownies and hot cocoa! We always keep some on hand.
If you don't have heavy cream, you could use milk. However, instead of 1/4c, you may want to reduce to 2-3 tablespoons since milk is thinner than cream. We don't want the peanut butter fill to be too thin.

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