There are some ingredients that are common to all big cookie cakes. You’ll need really good butter, sugar, and fresh brown sugar. You’ll also need eggs, flour, and vanilla. Be sure to use the freshest ingredients you can find as they will affect the taste of your cookie. That’s where the similarity in ingredients between recipes usually stops. From here you can add chocolate chips, nuts, shredded coconut, and more.

One thing every recipe for a big cookie will call for is a pan. You can either use a flat sheet pan, a pizza pan or a molded shape like a heart or a moon shape. These types of specialty pans are found in the cake and baking aisle in stores.

Baking the cookie is easier than making cookies one by one. You don’t have to stand there and wait for the first batch to bake so you can put the next batch in. You just pop the whole batch of dough in on the pan at once. Couldn’t be easier.

Here’s a favorite recipe from Allrecipes.com. It’s for a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.

2. Gradually add flour, salt, and baking soda, beating until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

3. Spread in greased 14 inch round pizza pan. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes. Cool cookie in pan on a cooling rack. Decorate as desired.

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As you can see, it’s really no different than making regular chocolate chip cookie dough. The time-saving and super easy part is that you just spread the dough onto a pan once.

The decorating options are endless. Frost in blue frosting and make a Cookie Monster cake. Use black tinted frosting for the mouth and use cookies for the eyes. You can find frosting tints at a craft store that has a cake aisle. The powdered tints will yield a darker color than liquid food coloring. And the stain won’t come off on kids’ mouths if you use a powdered tint.

Other options for decorating a cookie cake include a harvest pumpkin (just frost in orange with a green stem), a soccer ball (use black and white icing to make the six-sided shapes of a soccer ball), or a spider web for Halloween (use white frosting and thin lines of brown frosting that you drizzle on and then drag a knife through).These giant cookie cakes make great birthday cookie gifts!

The idea of the giant cookie is nothing more than a bunch of small cookies put together. So start with a cookie mix from the store. You can buy cookie mixes in bags in the baking aisle. They’ll usually require you to add eggs and oil or butter. Everything else is usually already in there.

Decide if you want a sugar cookie cake, a chocolate chip cookie cake, or some other flavor. You can do a peanut butter cookie cake that has a chocolate frosting on it for a real delight. Shop the baking aisle and see which flavor you think will work best for your party.

While you’re at the store, pick up a pizza pan. They usually come in 14” or 16” sizes. You can find a cheap aluminum pan that you can throw out or invest in a more sturdy version if you plan on baking many cookie cakes or a few pizzas now and then.

Mix the cookie batter according to the recipe. Be sure that if the mix calls for softened butter that you do not rush the process and melt the butter in the microwave. You may be tempted, but the result will be a thinner, crisper cookie that doesn’t taste as good and may burn faster.

Grease the pizza pan and spread the cookie batter onto it. Spread it evenly so that no one spot is raised above the others. This will help the cookie bake evenly. That’s all you have to do. Now just pop it into the oven at the temperature the cookie mix recommends. It’s usually around 375 degrees or so. You’ll bake until the cookie is brown but not hard.

Here’s the part where many a cookie cake has gone awry. Never walk away into a separate part of the house while you are baking a cookie cake. You may get distracted by another task and find that your cookie is burnt beyond repair. Stay in the kitchen and set a timer for 20 minutes. When the minimum amount of time is reached, check the cookie. If it is nicely golden and not raw in the center, pull it out even if the whole 25 minutes hasn’t elapsed. You want it to come out of the oven while it is still semi soft. If you wait to pull it out when it’s already crisp, the cookie will be overdone. Heat will still continue to bake the cookie on the pan after it comes out of the oven, so you have to allow for that.

Next, cool the cookie. When it is completely cool, you can add your frosting decorations. Use icing from the store that comes in a tube so you can write on the cake. You can also pipe frosting around the edges.

If you think cookie cakes are fun, you'll have to check out cookie bouquets as well!

To change things up, you can use different flavors of ice cream sandwiches. Some things you can add (crunched on top or between layers) : Heath Bars, Butterfingers, M&Ms and more!

Ingredients:

A giant cupcake can be frosted to resemble a regular cupcake or you add one to a regular sheet cake for an amazing creation.  Finished cupcake measurements are approximately 7-1/4 by 7-1/2 inches.

The pan can be purchased at Amazon.com for just under $25.  A giant cupcake pan consists of 2 molds - the bottom of the cupcake and the top. Before constructing your giant cupcake, a good idea is to put a layer of frosting between each half so you are less likely to have slippage during frosting.

Below are some of my favorite giant cupcake creations, found on Flickr.com.

Want to try your hand? Find tips and tricks for making a giant cupcake here!

Cake
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
¾ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Filling
1 - 8 oz package softened cream cheese
1/3 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Grease and flour a 15 x 10 x 1 inch jelly roll pan and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar and beat for 5 minutes on medium speed. Stir in the pumpkin and lemon juice by hand.

Combine together the flour and next five ingredients. Then gradually add the dry flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture mixing well between each addition. Spread the batter evenly in the jelly roll pan. If you choose to use nuts, evenly sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top of the batter. Bake at 375° F for 12 minutes.

The following step is a MUST in order to prevent the cake from splitting and breaking when you roll it up with the filling. On a large flat surface, spread out a thin cloth kitchen towel and sprinkle it lightly with some powdered sugar (maybe 1 to 2 tablespoons). When cake is removed from the oven, immediately loosen it from the sides of the pans and turn it out onto the powder sugar sprinkled towel. Starting at the narrow end of the cake, roll up the cake and towel (TOGETHER). Cool completely on wire rack with the cake seam side down.

To make the filling, beat together the cream cheese and butter on high speed. Mix in the vanilla and gradually add the powdered sugar beating until thoroughly combined and smooth. Unroll the cooled cake and remove the towel. Spread the cake with the cream cheese mixture and carefully re-roll. Present to guests on a plate with the seam side down. You can garnish with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, cinnamon or a large dollop of whipped cream. Be sure to store in the refrigerator.

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 3/4 cups)
• 2 cups pecans (1 cup finely chopped for batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for decorating sides of cake)

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
2. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.
4. Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day, covered) before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature
• 2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

Cream Cheese Frosting Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add butter, beating until incorporated after each addition.
2. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, and beat until fluffy and smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature and stir well before using. This frosting can also be used on pumpkin bars or even sugar cookies.
   

If you want to get creative with your Halloween treats this year, look no farther. The following is a recipe that is sure to satisfy even the scariest taste buds.

Ingredients:

*1 package (about 18 oz.) of your favorite flavor cake mix (we use pumpkin or apple spice mix for Halloween)
*1 tub (16 oz.) vanilla or cream cheese flavored ready-to-spread frosting
*orange food coloring
*1 tube black decorating gel or melted chocolate
*black string licorice
*25 large gumdrops
*24 Halloween themed baking cups

Instructions:

1. Get out a couple muffin pans (enough to hold 24 cupcakes) and place your Halloween-themed paper baking cups inside the tin holders. Also preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a mixing bowl, follow the package instructions to prepare the cake mix batter. Spoon the batter into the muffin baking cups and bake as directed on the cake box (follow the instructions for 24 cupcakes). Cool the cupcakes on a baking rack.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix the tub of ready-made frosting with some orange food coloring until you achieve the desired color. Frost the 24 cupcakes. Be sure to reserve a tablespoon or so of orange frosting to make the spider eyes. NOTE - you can leave the frosting white to make black and white webs if you prefer.

4. Using the black decorating gel, make a series of concentric circles on top of the frosted cupcakes. Then use a toothpick or knife to pull the black gel from the center of the cupcake to the outward edge of the cupcake about 8 times around the cake. This will create the web appearance.

5. To make the spider, take one large gumdrop and attach 3 pieces of black string licorice on each side to create the legs (tip...use a toothpick to make small holes for the licorice insertion into the gumdrop).  Use the reserved orange frosting to make a the eyes on each gumdrop with a toothpick dipped in the frosting. Place a large gumdrop spider on the top of each cupcake.

If you don't have time to do your own Halloween goodie baking, check out our Halloween party cookie gift basket which is overflowing with iced cookies in the shapes of monsters like mummies, cyclops, and witches.

Want to get spooky with your Halloween treats? Try some of these Halloween party food ideas.

Photo courtesy of cutco.com

For the cake

• 1 (8.25 ounce) package plain devil's food or dark chocolate fudge cake mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package chocolate flavor instant pudding & pie filling
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels

For the frosting

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 5 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans, or spray with a cooking spray with flour. Set aside.
2. To make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, blend the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, water, and oil with an electric mixer on low speed one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if necessary. The batter should look thick and well combined.
3. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate morsels, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter. Pour half the batter into each prepared pan.
4. Bake 28 to 32 minutes, until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and just start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the sides of each cake and invert them onto the rack to cool completely, 20 minutes more.

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs unbeaten (add one at a time)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 packed grated carrots

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add ingredients in the above order, mixing well after each addition. Pour into greased pan. Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours. Cool and icing.

Carrot Cake Icing

• 3 1/2 to 4 cups icing sugar
• 8 ounce cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tsp vanilla

Cream cheese and butter. Beat in sugar gradually until you reach your desired stiffness. Mix in vanilla.

For adults, if you want to take carrot cake a step farther, try making carrot cake shooters! They're sure to be a hit.

1 spice cake mix [1 layer]

Prepare cake mix according to package. Pour into an 8 in. square pan. Spread pie filling over top, sprinkle with cinnamon.Bake according to package instructions. Let cool on cake rack. Cut into squares. Sprinkle with wafer crumbs and serve with ice cream or yogurt.

Making apple and spice squares is a great opportunity to try something different, after making batches of cookies and brownies, you might just welcome the slight change!