It was my labmate's birthday and unfortunately, he doesn't really like sweets. So I figured, if he was going to get a birthday cake, I might as well make it look like a savory food. I narrowed it down to either a cake that looked like a cheeseburger or a cookie that looked like a pizza. My labmate's wife told me that while he doesn't like cake, he does eat chocolate chip cookies. Cookie that looked like a pizza it is then!
So for this dessert, I used a recipe from Emeril specifically for a giant cookie cake. I guess you could use any cookie recipe (sugar, peanut butter, chocolate chip, etc.) or just buy cookie dough, but I figured the amount of cookie dough this recipe would make would be just right (I would worry less about pan overflow). I baked the dough on a 16-inch pizza pan (I think the original recipe calls for a 14-inch) leaving an inch or two for the cookie to spread out a bit. You'll want to roll this dough out as thin as you can, the outside is going to brown a lot faster than the inside and my cookie was still pretty doughy in the middle.
For the sauce, I used a little bit of cream cheese (about 4 oz.) and some strawberry jam (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup, I didn't measure). I mixed it a little powdered sugar to thicken it up but it didn't really help. Depending on how sweet your jam is, this could be skipped. I then added some red food coloring to make it look like tomato sauce. I would have made it more red but I ran out of coloring.
The cheese was grated white chocolate. I've read that some people will stick this in the oven for a couple minutes to get that melty cheese look, but I passed. For toppings, you can get creative! A lot of examples I've seen have either used fondant, fruit roll-ups, or candy chocolate for toppings. I went with fruit because it tastes good and I think collectively it would taste better than a cookie with fruit-roll ups. For pepperoni, I simply sliced strawberries into rounds. For green peppers, I sliced up a kiwi into long strips. For sausage, I sprinkled on some Raisinettes. I guess you could also use some pineapple chunks for, well, pineapple, but I forgot about it. And for mushrooms (this is what I'm most proud of), I used bananas that I sliced into rounds and then cut to form mushroom shapes. I've also heard you can cut marshmallows in a similar fashion and sprinkle a little cocoa powder on them. Anyways, for the bananas, I also dipped them in a little 7-Up because it works like lemon juice (prevents browning) but doesn't have a strong taste.
To present it, I went to a local pizza shop and asked for a new box. They were more than happy to give me one (I think they also liked the idea when I told them it was for a pizza cake). The box made for easy transport and it looked cool.
Anyways, everyone loved it and it was super delicious!
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
adapted from Emeril's recipe (here)
1 cu butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 14- or 16-inch pizza pan with parchment paper and grease parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter. Add eggs, beating well after each addition.
3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix well. Add vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spread across the bottom of the prepared pan. Using hands or rolling pin, flatten dough to 1/4-1/2 inch thick, leaving 1-2 inches of space around the edge of the pan. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the cookie is set, but the center is still slightly soft, 20-25 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
No comments:
Post a Comment