Back in the days of Rugrat themed birthday parties was a house full of kids and two mischievous cake-destructing one year olds. My youngest siblings are twins and while everyone was downstairs busting open a pinata for my 7th birthday party, these two bandits managed to climb on top of the kitchen table and dig their paws into my homemade Rugrat birthday cake. While I can't blame them for wanting a piece of the chocolate action, I'm not surprised because they continue to live out the phrase "double trouble" to this day. These two somehow turned 17 last week, so I made the trek back home to visit with this cookie cake in hand.
When I texted them both asking what their favorite kind of cake was, I got mixed reviews and a startling response. While my sister wanted, "Choco choco choco" or "Cookie Cake", my smart-alek-of-a-brother responded with a simple, "Dead Carcass". (To think I was going to get a serious answer was a joke in itself.) So while my goal was to please both parties, I decided to go more along the lines of my sisters request. Sorry bro, I don't cater to sarcasm.
At this point, you're probably grossed out by the words, "dead carcass" on a food blog, but let's just pretend that didn't happen and jump back into the peanut buttery goodness of this cookie cake. With a soft texture and a subtle sweetness from the peanut butter, this cookie cake is a great alternative to store bought. I love using a large 16" round cake pan for cookie cakes, because you can spread the dough out thin for that signature cookie cake texture.
The large pan also helps the cookie bake up fast, so you're not waiting in the kitchen for an hour waiting for it to finish baking. Once cooled, top with the frosting of your choice (I just used a can) and pop on a few extra Reese's candies for decoration. If I hadn't run out of butter, I would have tackled a homemade frosting, but as my sister always says, "you win some, you lose some." Which were probably her exact thoughts as she deconstructed my birthday cake 16 years ago...
Reeses Peanut Butter Cookie Cake
Ingredients
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Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter (1 cup, i.e., 2 sticks), peanut butter (½ cup), granulated sugar (½ cup), and light brown sugar (1 cup).
- Add eggs (2 large), baking soda (1 teaspoon), salt (½ teaspoon), and vanilla extract (1 ½ teaspoons) and mix until combined.
- Slowly add in all-purpose flour (2 ¼ cups) and mix until incorporated. Stir in ¾ cup chopped Reese's Pieces and ½ cup whole Reese's Pieces.
- Spray large circle pan well with cooking spray and evenly spread dough into pan using a spatula. (I use a large round pan to bake these in so they aren't too thick.)
- Bake at 350℉ for 16-18 minutes. I like mine to be more chewy and less crunchy so I just watch them closely to make sure they don't get too brown.
- Once cooled, pipe on frosting and add decorative Reese's pieces & cups to top.
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The funny thing is that when I got home on Thursday night, there was already a store-bought cookie cake on the table. But I guess dual birthdays call for dual cakes, right? Just one more example of the good ol' phrase double trouble.
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