Cookie Cake Tower

Cookie cake is one of those desserts that brings me back to my childhood. There is something strangely satisfying about a giant cookie (most kids will tell you this). My mom made them for my sister and I for birthdays, and we ate them at friends' birthdays growing up. My sister and I always stopped by Ms. Field's in the mall to ogle at the giant confections with loads of frosting until my mom either bought us a treat or dragged us away (thanks Mom!)

I got a request a couple of weeks ago for a cookie cake for my Sister in Law's husband, Eric. He loves cookies and Sarah (supporting Flour Bakery) decided to order one for his birthday. I'm not sure how the idea came to me, but I decided the only way to do a cookie cake is to stack it up. Sarah wanted a small cake for 4 people, and although the final product will feed more than 4, I think it is the perfect size.

I made three 6" rounds about 1"thick each using a deliciously simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. Sarah and I brainstormed options for filling including Chocolate + Peanut butter, Nutella + Fluff, Chocolate + White Chocolate, but in the end decided semi-sweet chocolate would best suit our birthday man. I stacked the layers using about 1oz melted chocolate in between as my glue and voila, a Chocolate Chip Cooke Tower aka "Tower of Cookie Goodness."

Shipping to Virginia from San Francisco will be interesting and hopefully promising. I really hope Eric likes it! I asked Sarah to write a little something for me to include in this post and here is what she said: "Eric loves chocolate chip cookies. In fact the night we finally went from friends to whatever we were after that, he made chocolate chip cookies. Gumbo, jambalaya, and chocolate chip cookies for a big group of our friends. So this year since I am sick of Cold Stone Ice Cream cakes, I knew I wanted Christina to make something special for his birthday. And of course it should have something to do with chocolate chip cookies. My feeble brain was only able to come up with an idea for a giant cookie cake, the kind you can buy in the mall, but of course Christina was full of much, much better ideas. She instead thought to build a cookie tower so that it would resemble a real live cake. We pondered flavors and fillings, but when it came down to it plain old chocolate chip cookies were the perfect answer. The cookie tower was adorable. Rich and moist, it lasted us almost a whole week with guests. It was the perfect birthday cake for Eric, and when it arrived he quickly claimed it as his and only his. I'm hoping Christina will make our birthday treats every year from now on." Thanks Sarah, and of course I'd love to make your cakes every year! My only thought is that we should move closer to each other so I don't have to worry about shipping something more extravagant than a cookie cake!