Valentine's Bakes: Cookie cake edition!

You've got a slice of my heart ❤️ Heart cookie cake that is!

I continued on with my Valentine's bakes with this recipe from Design Eat Repeat and decked it out in Valentine's fashion! I baked it in my Emile Henry Ruffled Heart Dish and added Valentine's M&Ms and sprinkles for a pop of color. 

Cookie cake recipe

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick) You will be melting this

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&Ms

Vanilla buttercream frosting

¼ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

¾ teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of Salt

1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter for 20-30 seconds until JUST melted.

 

Add in white sugar and brown sugar and use a spatula to stir until combined (* do not use a mixer!). Add in egg and vanilla, then mix. Next, add in baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix again. Add in flour and mix until all the flour disappears into the dough.

 

Add the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of M&Ms into the dough and mix.  Immediately proceed to pressing into pan (you don't want the dough sitting out or it will set too much with the melted butter).

 

Grease a 11.5" metal cookie cake pan. (I used my heart dish instead) Using a spoon or your clean hands, drop the dough into small chunks in the pan. This will help disperse everything so that you can easily smooth it out. Once all dough as been added, use a spatula or your hands to press down the dough into a smooth layer (being sure to get all the corners).

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes - do NOT overbake or your chocolate chip cookie cake will not be soft. You want the cookie cake to be slightly brown on the top and look slightly underbaked (my oven was perfect at 12 minutes). Remove from oven and place entire pan on a cooling rack. Allow the cookie cake to cool completely before removing. (I left mine in the heart dish)

 

Using a large star piping tip, pipe around the edges then immediately add sprinkles (the frosting will start hardening quick, so add sprinkles right away!).

 

To make frosting:

Beat the softened butter on medium-high speed for 2-minutes until smooth. Turn the mixer to low speed then add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. You may need to stop and scrape down sides. Add vanilla and salt and turn mixer to medium speed. One tablespoon at a time, add milk. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes until creamy and the frosting is at a good consistency to pipe. If it looks too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it looks too stiff, add a tiny bit of milk until you get to the desired consistency.

This will make just enough frosting to pipe a border along the edges. If you would like more frosting to cover the top or to write words on top, simply double the frosting recipe!

 This was another pretty quick and easy recipe that was so, so good! I'm glad I took some pictures before we dug in because this cookie cake was gone by the end of the day!