giant.cookie.cake

After my obsession with the first book, I immediately went out and bought the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, by Susanne Collins.

It proved to be equally as good as the first book, and now I'm left empty handed, contemplating buying the third book as well. I knew I should have bought it when I bought the second one. It just seemed like too much money to spend on books all at once. Maybe I can hold off and hope to get it for Christmas. I don't know, though. I'm already sitting here going crazy just thinking about what could possibly happen next.

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On a completely different note, I completed my second Christmas baked goods project on Saturday. Wes and I were invited to a Christmas party at church and I was to bring dessert. I didn't have any particular ideas, so I asked Wes what he would like me to make. His first thought, of course, were the Peanut Butter Truffles that I made for Thanksgiving. I told him I'd think about it, but I wanted something else as well. So he requested a cookie cake. Now anyone who knows Wes know that cookie cake is pretty much his favorite dessert, so it wasn't a surprise to me. I had never made a cookie cake though, we've always just bought them, so I had to do some digging around to find a recipe. This is what I found:

Chef Emeril's Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
• Confectioners' sugar, for garnish
• Sweetened cocoa, for garnish
• Sweetened whipped cream, accompaniment

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 14-inch, light colored, round pizza pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix with a whisk. Add to the butter mixture, mixing to incorporate, and add the vanilla extract. Fold in the dark and white chips and the nuts. Spread across the bottom of the prepared pan and bake until the edges are golden and the cookie is set but the center is still slightly soft, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To serve, sift confectioners' sugar and sweetened cocoa over the top, and cut into wedges. Serve sweetened whipped cream on the side.

I used this as my basic guideline, but I didn't add everything it says. I don't really like white chocolate chips or nuts, so I just kept it simple and put 2 1/4 cups of regular chocolate chips instead. This seemed to be a good amount. And I didn't garnish it with confectioner's sugar, cocoa, and whipped cream, although it sound pretty good. Instead, I decorated mine with red, green, and white icing and sifted a little confectioner's sugar on top to look like snow. I didn't even think to take a picture of the finished cake, but I did get this snapshop before it was all gone.

 

 

 

The red letters at the bottom spelled Merry Christmas.