Bars O' Goodness

Woah.  These are something wonderful that need to be followed with a glass of milk.
I volunteered to bring dessert to a potluck tonight and so yesterday I set to web-browsing one of my favorite cooking/baking blogs: Picky Palate.  If you've never been, this woman dreams up the most amazing desserts and they usually involve, chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies or in this case: all three.  When I saw the picture of this recipe, I knew I had to try it.  I did tweak it, however, so I'm posting it the way *I* made it since it was a hit.  For the original recipe go HERE and really - I give all the credit to Jenny - one of the most amazing creators of fairly easy, accessible desserts.  The main reasons I tweaked it were a) there was no way I was using store-bought sugar cookie dough and b) I had a hard time spreading the peanut butter layer so I had to double it to cover the whole pan.  Essentially to make this, you have to make 4 kinds of cookies, so get out your bowls and your spatulas.
Here's the recipe:
Stripey Cookie Bars - my son's title (aka "The Motherload")
1) Sugar Cookie Layer (I used Mary's Sugar Cookies from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book and omitted the almond extract)
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
Mix sugar and butter.  Add egg and flavoring; mix thoroughly.  Add flour, soda and cream of tartar.  Blend thoroughly.
Press into a 9x13 pan that has been lined with parchment paper and then greased.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (Don't put the cookies in the oven yet.)

2) Chocolate-Chocolate Cookie Layer
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/8 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
6 oz. milk chocolate chips (half a bag)
Blend butter and sugars until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, blend thoroughly.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix until combined - it's kind of crumbly.
Press gently on top of sugar cookie layer evenly.

3) Peanut Butter Layer
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Blend well.  Spread evenly over chocolate layer (this is a little bit hard, I discovered).

4) Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer
Just half THIS recipe (the best chocolate chip cookies ever, in my opinion).
Crumble on top of the peanut butter layer evenly to cover, do not press down.

Bake the whole thing at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes until the cookies are firm but not over-cooked.
The edges will be a little crispier.  When I cut these for the potluck, I left all the edges at home.  I cut them into about 1-1/4" squares and they are so rich, you don't need much more than that.
Enjoy!