Recipe--Cookie Pizza Cake

Most everyone in our family is convinced that the chocolate and peanut butter combination was made in heaven. This cookie pizza cake marries the best of so many wonderful things in the world: cake, cookies, chocolate, peanut butter, and pizza! Ben picked this for his birthday cake, and it was a definite hit!

Cookie Pizza Cake

1 large package (32 ounces) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

1 package (18 ¼ ounces) chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix

1 cup prepared vanilla frosting

½ cup peanut butter

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

1 container (16 ounces) chocolate frosting

Chocolate peanut butter cups, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 12 x 1-inch round pizza pans with nonstick cooking spray. Press cookie dough evenly into one pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 20 minutes in pan on wire rack. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack (we could not remove cookie without breaking it, so we just left it in the pan.)

Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Fill second pan ¼ to ½ full with batter. (Reserve remaining cake batter for another use, such as cupcakes.) Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes on wire rack. Gently remove cake from pan; cool completely.

Combine vanilla frosting and peanut butter in small bowl. Gradually stir in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it’s a spreadable consistency.

Place cookie on serving plate (or leave it in baking pan, as we did) Spread peanut butter frosting over cookie. Place cake on top of cookie, trimming cookie to match size of cake, if necessary. Frost top and side of cake with chocolate frosting. Garnish with peanut butter cups, if desired. Makes 12 to 14 servings.