that’s one big cookie.

A couple of months ago, I was chatting with two friends about the phenomenon known as the “cookie cake.” I remember in the 90’s when I first started seeing them. I think there was a place in the mall that made them. It was what appeared to be a giant pizza-sized chocolate chip cookie, with whatever writing you wanted on top. I got one for my birthday in ’97. It was from my college roommates. They were awesome.

But anyway, my two friends and I were recently debating the cookie cake and how it fared among other cakes, and if it was even still around. I don’t remember seeing one in at least 10 years, but my friends both said that yes, it was still around, and one of these two even went as far as saying the cookie cake was her all time favorite cake. As I often do, I made a mental note of this, as this friend’s birthday was in the not-so-distant future, and I’ve never made a cookie cake before, so not only did it give me the perfect birthday gift idea, it also provided me with a new baking challenge. So I started doing some research.I looked up “giant cookie cake” and found a ton of recipes. The problem was, they all appeared to be just un-altered chocolate chip cookie recipes – I couldn’t see any common denominator that set them apart from any regular old cookie recipe I’ve come across. Even the baking temp was the same (375). So, if that was the case, I saw no reason why I couldn’t use my own personal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. So, that’s what I did.

it worked for them.

I dug out the biggest cake pan I have, which is a 12″. I made the cookie dough. I greased the pan, I spread the dough in the pan (I used all of it). It was spread about 1/2″ thick. One tidbit I did pick up in my research was to make sure the cookie cake wasn’t too thick – 1/2″ is about the thickest you should go, or the middle wont cook and the edges will burn.

there's not a glass of milk big enough.

Anyway, I baked it at 375, and I checked it at 7 minutes, like you would for normal cookies, but it was not close to being done. So, I checked it again, at 2 minute intervals. It finished at around 12 minutes. I let it cool for about 10 minutes, then the moment of truth: flipped the pan upside down and popped it out.

we've achieved cookie cake.

The next part was easy – I just made some simple buttercream, and decorated.

Mrs. Fields can bite my cookie cake.

So, my foray into the land of Cookie Cakes was a success! My friend loved hers, said it was better than the ones from the mall, and is now encouraging me to sell them. So sell them l shall. Now who’s buying? 🙂