Two Cookie Cakes, One Recipe.

I’m all about saving time and reducing waste. So last week, when I realized I had to make not one, but two cakes for two entirely separate events, I started thinking of ways I could somehow lessen the work and the waste, while still pleasing both cake recipients. Event #1 was my anniversary; the recipient of this cake being my boyfriend. Now at first I thought maybe I would just make him a batch of cookies – he absolutely adores my chocolate chip cookies. Event #2 was my dad’s birthday; the recipient of this cake being (obviously) my dad. My dad is not a dessert fan, but he does have a few things he enjoys – gingerbread, lady fingers, cookies.. COOKIES! There was the common thread. But I had really wanted to make my dad an actual cake that I could write on….COOKIE CAKES! And so it was written.

My standard chocolate chip cookie recipe made two cookie cakes – one 10″  and one 8″. As they cooled, I started mixing up some colors for the decorating portion of tonight’s show.

the colors of the wind (or icing).

I decided to use the larger cake for the anniversary, for two reasons: 1. like I said, my dad doesn’t eat too many sweets, and 2. I wanted to eat some too. I went with the blue theme for this one.

i guess that’s why they call it the blues.

I went with a complimentary dark purple for accents and writing.

complimentary.

Don’t for a second think that I wasn’t thinking ahead here. For my dad’s cake, I chose light yellow.

they call me mellow yellow.

Which also looks great with a dark purple.

purple planning.

Both cakes were a hit! My boyfriend liked his so much, he ate a piece for breakfast.

the breakfast of champions.

And then asked me to marry him. 🙂

must’ve been something in the cake…

I guess it’s true what the say about the way to a man’s heart. 😉

 

Recipe Sunday: Reese’s Pieces Cookie Cake.

I used to eat Reese’s Pieces for lunch. Yep, that’s right – the same girl who now counts every calorie, reads the ingredients on everything, and runs 6 miles every other day, used to sit down at her desk at work for lunch with a bag of Reese’s Pieces and a smoothie/milk shake/other type of frothy fattening drink and eat half the bag. And I wondered why I felt sick all the time.

lunch of champions.

Anyway, I still love these little pieces of chocolate and peanut butter heaven, but I rarely eat them these days, since the major diet overhaul of 2010, which included a huge cutback on candy. But last week, I was out shopping, and there they were, just sitting there, as always, mixed in with all the other candy I never get to enjoy anymore…and before I knew what happened, I grabbed the bag, and threw it in the cart, and headed straight for the checkout before I could change my mind. The problem then became that I was eating them. And because I still count calories, it was torture – 51 Reese’s Pieces sounds like a lot, but it’s really hardly making a dent. I had to do something, quick. It was my friend’s birthday, and he loves cookies, so I was going to make him a cookie cake anyway, and as I assembled the ingredients on the table, there they were again, right in front of me. It was an “Aha!” moment – I’ll make a Reese’s Pieces Cookie Cake and decorate it with Peanut Butter Buttercream! so that’s exactly what I did.

And now, I’ll share the recipe with you.

reese’s make a birthday happier.

Reese’s Pieces Cookie Cake.

What you’ll need:

5 oz. shortening

8 oz.   sugar

.25 oz.  salt

3 oz. (about 2)  eggs

.25 oz.  vanilla

10 oz.  flour

.25 oz.  baking soda

7 oz. Reese’s Pieces

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and vanilla, and add to the shortening/sugar.  In another bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Fold that mixture into the other ingredients until evenly mixed. Fold in the Reese’s Pieces. You will be very tempted to eat the dough – do so at your own risk. I have built up a tolerance for raw dough/batter over the years, so I enjoy it freely with no consequences. I’m still not sure if this is a good thing.

just when you thought cookie dough couldn’t get any better.

Spray a 10″ round cake pan. Take 2/3 of the dough, and press it evenly into the bottom of the cake pan. It should be about an inch high. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Note that you still have 1/3 of unbaked dough – do with it what you wish! I’m saving it for another project, which I’ll post later this week!

I decorated it with a complimentary Peanut Butter Buttercream – the recipe of which you can find here, under a previous Recipe Sunday for White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.

Let them eat cookie.

Once I finally perfected my chocolate chip cookie recipe, I started moving into the world of cookie cakes. They’re fun to make, and seem to be a real crowd pleaser. I mean, who doesn’t love a giant cookie? (except for that scene in “Bridesmaids” when she goes nuts and trashes the bridal shower, including the giant cookie.) But most people would rather eat a giant cookie than destroy it, so I started making them more and more, especially for the cookie-lovers in my life. In fact, last week I had the pleasure of making two:

A birthday cookie:

celebrate good times, come on.

and a “get well” cookie:

take one of these, and call me in the morning.

I love making these things. They make people happy. And that makes me happy. Not to mention, It gives me the opportunity to eat cookie dough. Mmmmm….cookie dough….

that’s one not quite as big cookie.

I had to do it.

I had to make another cookie cake. I was so stoked with how great the first one turned out, that I had to go back and do it again. This time, however, on a much smaller scale, after all, this blog is supposed to be about SMALL Indulgences. 😉

less gigantic in size, yet equally delicious.

This time, I used an 8″ pan, but with the same technique as the 12″ – keeping it about 1/2″ thick, and just freezing the rest of the dough for a future cookie cake.

I was chatting with a friend today regarding my new found desire to corner the cookie cake market, and he commented on how you only see chocolate chip cookie cakes. Why should the other cookies be left out of the fun??? No more, I say! Oatmeal cookie cake, sugar cookie cake, white chocolate macadamia nut cookie cake! It’s happening people. I shall be crowned queen of the cookie cake and live in a castle made entirely of cookie cake, with two cupcake towers, surrounded by a moat of pastry cream, in which dwells a giant gummy worm who wards off unwelcome invaders from neighboring candylands. (too much?)  

 

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? 🙂