Cookie Cake

Well now. Sorry for the absence; last week, my sister's baby had to return to the hospital (quite suddenly) for his second heart surgery. So I've spent the last week and a half going back and forth between home and New Orleans, where he's hospitalized. He is doing amazingly well and should be home soon. I can't wait!!

My latest trip to New Orleans was to celebrate my sister's birthday. She really wanted a cookie cake (she had been scheduled to get one at work before we knew about the surgery) so a cookie cake she would have!! First, I thought I would use my white and milk chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I was worried about it baking correctly. I googled cookie cake recipes and came across this one from Emeril. What better recipe to use while my sister is holed in up New Orleans? In fact, the hospital isn't very far from one of his restaurants. Anyhoo. The recipe called for bittersweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, walnuts, and macadamia nuts. I generally try to avoid baking with nuts, since so many people have allergies or just don't like them. Now, my sister LOVES these new Hershey nuggets that are milk chocolate with toffee and almonds. When I say she loves them, I mean it. And they deserve the love. They are amazingly delicious. Sadly they are difficult to find. No worries though; Mama Sarah is dedicated to her baking! Once I found a bag (and then bought two), I chopped those up and used those instead of all the mix-ins Emeril used.


Since this cookie cake was for a birthday, it had to be decorated, right? Right. Unfortunately, I have horrible handwriting (which I *unfairly* blame completely on being a lefty) so I just used icing tips to decorate the edge and then create a heart in the center. Not too bad for a first time.


Everyone LOVED the cake. It was a great recipe, but the chocolate with bits of toffee seemed to make it. Everyone ate twice as much as they initially planned. Which, after gorging ourselves at the casino lunch buffet, means a lot. You should definitely make this recipe; cake form or cookie form doesn't matter.

Cookie Cake

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 package Hershey's Creamy Milk Chocolate with Toffee and Almonds Nuggets, chopped into chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking stone or pizza pan with parchment paper, then grease the paper. Alternatively, you can use a disposable tin pizza pan (that's what I did).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Mix in the vanilla. Stir or fold in the chocolate pieces.

Spoon on to/ into prepared surface/pan. Evenly distribute the batter and smooth the surface. Don't forget the cookie dough will rise; mine filled up a 13 inch pizza pan and hung a tiny bit over the side.

Bake approximately 20-25 minutes, until the edges are golden and the cookie is set, but soft. Let cool ten minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack. If using a disposable pan, you can leave it in the pan and just place it on the rack.

Cool completely before decorating.

Icing

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• food coloring, optional

Using a mixer (if you don't have a mixer, buy icing. It isn't worth stirring by hand), cream together the sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Slowly add milk and vanilla extract. Beat until stiff. Mix in food coloring.