To Wear or Not to Wear

Since I feel too lazy to bake today, I've turned my attention towards another part of being in the kitchen - aprons!

I'm not sure if it's the designs or the fun fotos but I love these by Cupcake Provocateur.

Cupcake shooters

What will they think of next! I love these, now I wonder where I can get the goods to make them myself! Thank you All Things Cupcake for sharing.

Or these delicious little ones from A Modern Event:

5 Layer Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

What to bake for my hubby (who does not like cake) for his birthday?

Last year I made large sugar cookie cut outs shaped like a tiered cake for him.

This year.... a 5 layer giant chocolate chip cookie with cheese cake filling!

It's perfect!

I started with a huge batch of cookies and made 5 giant 8 inch round cookies. I found that baking these on parchment paper was the easiest way to do this, so I could gage the size and remove them from the baking stone to cool without cracking.

While they cooled I made the cream cheese filling. Unfortunately my husband made it home from work before I had assembled it and was in awe of the giant cookies. I almost had to wrestle the cookie loving man to get my layers back, intact!

Recipe:

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

For the cookie dough

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 cup regular granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

For the frosting

40 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup regular granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

To make the cookies

Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar - mix until combined. This will most likely look dry and not creamy as you would expect. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well combined after each. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in the chocolate chips.

You need to make 5 cookie layers for this cake. Drop about 1 cup worth of batter on a piece of parchment paper - use an off-set spatula to spread the mixture into an evenly round 8" circle. I recommend baking them one at a time.

Bake until the edges are a rich golden brown and the center looks lightly golden on top, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough until you have 5 rounds.

To make the frosting

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugars and vanilla until fluffy and smooth. Spread a thick layer of mixture onto 4 of the cookies, I used a pastry bag with large star tip to give the edges a finished look. Stack the cookies on top of each other and place the final unfrosted piece on top. Cover and place in the refrigerator to set the cream cheese, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature.