Homemade Cookie Cake

This year for his birthday Logan decided he wanted a cookie cake. I've always like the idea, I have to admit. Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie? And people always say, "The bigger, the better." But like many families, we're trying to stay on a budget; and with me home most days, it just made much more sense for me to make Logan's birthday cake myself rather than paying someone else to do it. (And those cookie cakes are expensive!) So with just a little effort and an icing piper, I made this homemade cookie cake in under an hour.

Most cookie recipes can be done this way. I always use the Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe (minus the nuts.) Prepare the cookie dough as usual, following the recipe guidelines, and preheat your oven to the normal baking temperature. Once your dough is ready, simply spread it out onto a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper) or a well-seasoned baking stone. If you're anxious about the cookie sticking to your baking stone, smear some butter or margarine onto the stone before you drop the cookie dough onto it. On my first attempt, I tried to roll out the cookie dough into a circular shape with my rolling pin. This, however, did not work at all. With a more bread-like dough that may have worked better, but for the chocolate chip cookie I would just stick with spreading it out by hand. Work it into a roughly circular shape, maintaining a consistent thickness of about 1/2 inch.

The main difference between one giant cookie and lots of small cookies at this point is the baking time. Whereas you might normally bake a sheet of cookies for about 9 minutes, the one large cookie will take about 18-22 minutes, depending on your oven and taste preference. (I personally like my cookies soft and moist, so I only baked mine for 18 minutes.) Keep in mind that like most baked sweets, the cookie will continue to bake for a few minutes even after you take it out of the oven, so unlike most cakes, you don't necessarily want to stick a toothpick in this one to see if it's done.

Once the cookie is cooked to your satisfaction, let it cool for a little while before you frost it. I used store-bought icing that I put into a piping bag that I found at Walmart for around $3. Just spoon the icing into the bag, place whatever tip you want on the end, and squeeze away to your little heart's content. If you've never used a piping bag before, spend a few minutes practicing on some wax paper to see how the different piping tips look. You'll also want to gently squeeze the bubbles out of the icing before you get started on the cake. Pipe your personalized message onto the center of the cake, and decorate the outside rim with whatever border you like best.

The homemade version may not be quite as pretty as the one from that cookie store in the mall, but it will definitely taste better, and the money you save will be well worth the effort.
Store-bought cookie cake: $25
Homemade cookie cake: around $7.