Whenever I see a gorgeous woman, I might feel a twinge of envy. Okay, more than a twinge. But then I remember that being cute has a much longer shelf life than being pretty. Or at least, I hope it does.
Besides, people like cuteness everywhere. I saw a chocolate-covered Oreo shaped like a flower last week and I just had to have it. I mean, I always want a chocolate-covered Oreo, but when you put it into a flower chocolate mold that looks like a daisy, hot damn. That’s one adorable treat. So I figure I should bake cute whenever I can.
Holidays provide a fantastic excuse to head toward the more adorable treats. And why shouldn’t I try for an approximation of an American flag on a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie cake with frosting?
While decorating this, I ran out of blue M & Ms. You learn so much from emptying out a whole bag of something about color allocation. Is it an accident that only about a quarter of the bag was blue? I have no idea. We should ask some food psychologists or something.
Apparently, colors mean something. My house is decorated in yellow and red, my two favorite colors. I learned as an adult that fast food restaurants use those colors because they trigger appetite. So maybe I just wanted to decorate my house in shades of hunger without realizing it. It might also be why I can’t put the brownies down. Nah. Brownies are just that good.
So is this cookie cake. It’s quick cheat, and you know I’m fond of those. You take Nestle peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough (it comes in a bag in the freezer section), thaw it, and use it as a base. The peanut butter frosting you make yourself, and then the peanut M & Ms on top just add extra joy.
If you can’t find the cookie dough I used, any peanut butter cookie dough will be fine. In that case, I’d recommend buying two packages (the equivalent of 32 oz.) to get that cookie cake nice and thick.
The frosting takes pretty much no time to whip up, and it’s my favorite. It all goes on there unless you want to reserve some and eat it with a spatula. Not that I did that. Surrounded by yellow and red walls.
Baking cute is the way to go for fun holidays like the 4th. You can save the serious baking for something that involves religion or some kind of suffering, or both. This recipe is purely for those of you who like to have fun and be adorable!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9-inch round pan with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray.
- Press the cookie dough evenly into the pan, being sure to make one solid layer of dough.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and set. Cool completely. Invert carefully onto a plate, being sure to remove the parchment paper stuck to the bottom.
- While the cookie cake is cooling, make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, shortening and peanut butter until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the milk until the desired consistency for frosting is reached. Let the mixer run a little longer to whip up the frosting.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cookie cake.
- Using the pattern above or your own design, decorate the cookie cake with peanut M & Ms.
- Cut into wedges and serve. Store covered.