Red, White and Blue Cookie Cake.
A giant oatmeal cookie spread with a tart, slightly sweet and dense yogurt whipped cream and topped with bright summer berries. This is the perfect dessert for your upcoming Fourth of July celebrations, birthday parties or cookouts.
In our house, we can never have too many summer desserts. Your house too? What’s your favorite sweet treat?
While ice cream cones from the local ice cream shop are probably our #1 favorite dessert when eating out, fruity and creamy desserts are probably our favorite dessert at home. Because summer is a time to enjoy all the summer berries in all forms. And a time to combine those summer berries with creamy ice cream – or in this case an extra special whipped cream. And then put all of that atop a giant cookie. Because, cookies are always a good idea. Especially if you live with a cookie monster husband. Adrian is not a dessert lover nearly as much as me … but if we have cookies in the house, he’ll eat the whole batch in one night.
So … Lexi’s first birthday is coming up in mid-July and I wanted to come up with a simple, summery dessert that she (and we!) will love and a dessert that could be made and shared throughout the summer. One of my favorite birthday desserts as a kid was that giant cookie cake with that thick obnoxiously bright colored icing. Do you remember those? Sooo, I made a giant cookie, spread it with a this tart and slightly sweet yogurt whipped cream and topped it with fresh antioxidant rich berries (so much more pleasing in color and taste than that fake colored and flavored icing). Voila Red, White and Blue Cookie Cake. Lexi loves yogurt and she loves berries, so at least a few of these things will be familiar to her when she dives into this cake. And, I’m not worried about her not liking the giant cookie. 😉
This recipe is a semi-homemade recipe. It uses a store-bought cookie mix, but feel free to sub in your own oatmeal cookie mix if you prefer. And if you’d like to go a bit healthier, nix the yogurt whipped cream and just spread the top with your favorite protein rich vanilla yogurt – greek or Icelandic will work well, as they’re thicker and won’t drip off the sides. And decorate the top with berries in whatever design you like. I love the flag for your 4thof July parties, but for a birthday, pile different berries a top the cake in whatever design you like. The kids can help with mixing the cookie dough, spreading the whipped cream and decorating the cake with berries.
I sprinkled some lemon zest over the cake right before I served it. I love the freshness and brightness that the zest gives to sweet or savory dishes. Lemons and limes are staples in our fridge, as their juice and zest elevates any dish – and gives it that little extra something.
Back in April, the New England Dairy Council hosted a private cooking class event at Milk St for us Team Dairy members. One of the biggest learning takeaways for me from that event, aside from the incredible versatility of dairy, is that when a recipe seems to be missing that “something,” and you’re just not sure what it is … add an acid – especially a squeeze of lemon or lime. I like to add the zest many times as well (just make sure you’re using organic citrus to minimize pesticide residue.) In our cooking class, we made this (below) amazing Peruvian Pesto (spinach pesto) and served it with pasta and queso fresco with a side of lime wedges.
And for dessert, we shared Macerated Strawberries with Lime Shortcakes that used lime zest stirred into the strawberry sauce. Forever more, my fruit drawer will be stocked with lemons and limes, year-round.
Here’s how to make this Red, White and Blue Cookie Cake:
Red, White and Blue Cookie Cake
Ingredients
For the cookie cake
- 1 17.5 ounce Betty Crocker Oatmeal Cookie Mix or your favorite oatmeal cookie mix/recipe
- 1 stick butter unsalted, softened
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
For the whipped cream
- 1 5.3 ounce container vanilla whole milk yogurt
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
For the topping
- 1/2 quart strawberries hulled and thinly sliced vertically
- 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
For garnish
- 1 lemon zest of
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9-inch circular spring form pan with nonstick cooking spray on the butter and sides.
- In a mixing bowl, combine cookie mix, butter, egg and water. Mix until well combined and a relatively stiff dough forms. Spread dough evenly into pan.
- Bake cookie for 25-30 minutes, until the center is set and the edges are a light golden brown. Let cookie cool in pan for 30 minutes (or cool for 5 minutes, then place spring form pan on a cookie sheet pan and place in freezer to cool more quickly).
- Once cool, run a knife around the pan to loosen the cookie and remove the sides of the pan. Run a knife under the bottom of the cookie and remove the cookie carefully from the bottom of the pan. Place cookie on a serving plate or cake stand.
- Add yogurt and heavy whipping to a large chilled mixing bowl. Using a handheld mixer, beat until soft peaks form. Whipped cream will be denser (less fluffy) than traditional whipping cream because of the yogurt.
- Spread whipped cream over the top of the giant cookie. Top with berries in whatever design you like. Sprinkle with lemon zest (optional).
- Slice like a pizza and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN this giant cookie cake for later:
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