Fun Food Friday- "Wow Cookies"- Decorated Cookie Cake

 

I called them "Wow Cookies" because that's what Micah called them. :)  I never know what to get Steve for Father's Day.  He gets me my hanging basket for Mother's Day, but I just don't think he really wants flowers. :)  Steve loves cookies, so we decided we should make him a nice big cookie and I figured I'd make it my blog in case any of you are still trying to figure out what to give someone for Father's Day. :)  I love those big decorated cookies you can get at the mall, but they're not cheap, so I figured, why not just make one myself.  I still had some frosting left over but you can also just use store bought frosting and color it whatever colors you want.  So if you're looking for a fun gift idea for any occasion, a "Wow Cookie" is a great option. :)  You can use any cookie dough you like to make.  I found this chocolate chip cookie recipe a while back in a school cookbook and adjusted it a little and it has become my favorite, so that's the one I'll share with you. 

Ingredients: Butter, Brown Sugar, White Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla, Salt, Baking Soda, Flour, Chocolate Chips, Frosting

In a mixer bowl add 1 cup of soften butter (2 sticks)...

1 cup of brown sugar...

and 1 cup of white sugar

and cream together till nice and smooth

Micah is a big fan of the butter/sugar mixture

add 2 eggs...

 

and 1 teaspoon vanilla...

and mix

then add 1 teaspoon of baking soda

and 1/2 teaspoon of salt

and turn the mixer on.  Then add 2 3/4 cups of flour

Once that is all combined add 2 cups of chocolate chips (one 12 ounce bag)

and mix until you get this delicious cookie dough

(Micah was very upset when I tried to put the cookie dough in the pan, he thought he was going to eat the entire bowl of dough :))

I used 8 inch pans, you can use whatever size you want (or have).  We decided to make two, one for Steve, one for Steve's dad.  However many you decide to make, line the pan with foil.  You want to make sure the foil is pressed all the way against the side, if there are creases the dough will get in between and the cookie will not have a smooth side.

Spray the foil generously with cooking spray

Put the cookie dough in the pan.  You do not need a thick layer, it rises quite a bit.  I find it easiest if I use a spatula sprayed with cooking spray to pat it down. 

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes

If you have extra dough drop them on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes depending on how big you make them (mine turned out a little big)

Oh this boy cannot WAIT to bite into one of those!

Allow the "Wow cookie" to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove from the pan carefully by lifting the with the foil.

Once the cookie is cooled you can decorate it.  I use 10"cake boards to put them on, if you don't have any cake boards you can just use an upside down big paper plate.  Put some frosting on the plate...

And place the big cookie on top.  This prevents the cookie from accidentally falling off the board.  Micah was a big fan of my spinning cake plate.

 

And now the fun part- decorating.  If you don't have decorating tips you can just put the frosting in a sandwich bag and cut the corner whatever size you want and use that as your frosting bag.  And this is where you can get creative.  I'll just show you how I decorated, but you can do whatever you want.  I started with a little decoration around the edge. 

Then I took blue frosting and did squiggly lines over the white frosting.

Then green squiggly lines over the blue lines.

Write Happy Father's Day (or whatever occasion it's for), slap on some balloons, and you're good to go.

Micah was so excited to give his Daddy his "Wow cookie."  We gave it to him today so he wouldn't read about it on the blog before he got it :).  As soon as Steve walked in the door for lunch Micah said "Daddy, wow cookie!"  It was so cute.  So here Steve is with all his boys.  We also got to tell Daddy that we had nominated him for Father of the Year for our town's local newspaper and he won 3rd place!  He is a great Daddy!  Here was our nomination:

  

My daddy is the best daddy a little boy could ask for.  He plays with me pretty much from the moment he gets home from work until I go to bed.  We play ball, run around the house, build with blocks, play with cars, go on bike rides, he even takes me golfing and to the Whitecaps game.  I got two new little brothers this past year and my daddy has made me still feel very special and does an awesome job helping my mom with all of us boys all while caring for the church he ministers to.  I love my daddy!

Micah Bussis (for myself and my brothers-Jonathan and David)- written with the help of my mommy)

I hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day!

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

 

Cream butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix.  Add baking soda and salt.  Turn mixer on low and add 3 cups of flour gradually.  Mix until combined.  Add chocolate chips and mix.  To make an 8 inch cookie, line 8 inch pan with foil, spray with cooking spray, put a thin layer of dough in the pan, and bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes.  For cookies drop on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

Week 34

 

 

That sign is so distracting

They would much rather play with it

 

Micah likes to jump in the pictures :)

 

Jonathan (left)- 20.7 pounds

David (right)- 18.5 pounds

 

Life is going pretty good over here in the Bussis household.  The boys are sleeping really well, eating really well, and overall pretty happy, as long as they can see mommy. :)  Yes they have reached that stage where they are not happy when they don't see mommy.  Or when I walk towards them but don't pick them up.  This became very evident the two times this past week Steve and I played tennis.  We think that they must think we are coming to pick them up when we run to get a ball in their direction and because they don't get picked up, they cry, and cry and cry and cry.  But since they were just changed and fed, we know that they are perfectly fine.  So we played through the crying and boy did they sleep well those nights. :)  They really are good eaters.  Sometimes it's a trick to get David to start his bottle, but they usually finish all their bottles and they eat whatever solids I put in their mouths which is a change from Micah.  Of course Jonathan has started the whole spitting thing, thinks he's hilarious and actually, it is pretty cute, except when he's eating.  Because let me tell you, it's already a trick to feed two at the same time, and then you add spitting into the equation, fun times.  For instance, Sunday night, I'm feeding the boys before church, so we're on a little bit of a time crunch.  I have Jonathan spitting at me and David chewing on his socks.  Yeah, as I was sitting in church I felt something on my arm, and low and behold, I went to church with turkey & sweet potatoes on my arm :).  Being a mother is just so glamorous. :)  But I wouldn't trade it for anything.  We had some fun times this past week.   It really is so precious how much Micah loves his brothers.  Here he decided he wanted to read to them

And since they were all sitting there and wearing their name shirts from my mom, I decided I should try for a picture and look at that, they all actually looked at me!

 We have had some beautiful weather so we try to spend as much time outside as possible.  And of course if you are outside that means you have to play ball :)

 

Our neighbor boy came over and saw Micah hit and decided he's definitely going to be a professional baseball player :)

 

It's so nice that the twins can sit up now, so much more enjoyable for everyone involved

Micah helping Daddy spray the ant killer

 

Micah loves playing by his brothers

 Micah also loves taking pictures with my camera.  Here are a couple of shots that actually turned out:

 

 

I just love the shot of his feet, so cute!

We had to make a trip to Costco and the twins were able to actually sit in the cart!  So much nicer than trying to get two car seats in a cart.  And they enjoyed getting to see everything.

 

Micah is a fan of all the stacks of food at Costco, and the fact that he can sneak between them :) 

And of course no trip to Costco is complete without some frozen yogurt.  Notice where the frozen yogurt is, directly in front of Micah :)

The boys got their first taste of frozen yogurt.  Jonathan was a fan

 

David really wasn't interested :)

 On Saturday Micah got to go golfing with his Daddy and Grandpa.  He thought he was pretty special (which of course he is:)).

Micah with his Grandpa Bussis

 

So, funny story (at least I found it funny).  My mother-in-law's birthday was on Saturday so we all went to their house on Sunday noon to celebrate.  I told her I would make the cake and asked what her favorite was.  She said chocolate cake with white frosting.  I thought "Perfect! I have two layers of chocolate cake in my freezer so I don't have to actually make a cake, plus I have frosting left over from the baby cake I made, so we're all good!"  These cake layers were made at different times but they were both the Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge cake (my favorite) so no problem.  So I get them out, thaw them, and go to frost them.  When I put the second lay of cake on top I come to discover that they are different sizes!  One is a 9 inch, one an 8 inch.  I still can't figure out why I made a 9 inch cake because I always make 8 inch cakes, but that is besides the point because I now have a cake with a 9 inch bottom and 8 top. :)

So it was a little tricky getting it smooth along the side and I had a nice line of cake I couldn't cover because of the overlap, so I got a little creative (not my strong point) and put flowers along the side and :

Tada!!!

Can't even tell it's not even :) 

Goes to show perfect is highly overrated- since I had to put the row of flowers along the side, we now have more frosting to eat :)

On the garden front, my tomato plants are doing really well and I was afraid they were going to get over-crowed in their little pot, so I moved each plant to it's own pot.  Hopefully I didn't mess them up :)

 And that, my friends, is all for this week! :)