An Overgrown Cookie, Delighting the Child in Us

This past Christmas, Lucy and I had the privilege of spending a few days in NYC enjoying the sight and sounds of a city during the holidays. One of the stops on our self-guided tour was FAO Schwarz. I remember visiting this overgrown toystore when I was a child and walking around, eyes like grapefruits, taking in the vast selection of toys and candy, more loot than I could ever imagine owning in a lifetime.

Funny enough, I found myself walking around with the same amazement this Christmas at 33 years of age. At one point, Lucy and I took a tucked away elevator down to the lower level. Walls enclosed the moving staircase on both sides, until, in one grand reveal, the walls ended to showcase a candy store of monstrous proportions.

And I mean that.

As I browsed around, mouth gaping open, I discovered Twizzlers the length of my legs, Reese Cups the size of my daughter’s face, and a box of Nerds with similar dimensions of my suitcase; I felt I was snooping around in the BFG’s pantry. Yet as ridiculous as the sizes were, the child in me loved it.

It’s that same child-like sparkle that comes into the eye of my guests, adults and children alike, whenever I serve my cookie pizza. There’s nothing magical about the cookie itself, but I think we like the idea of oversized food, even if we eat only a small wedge of it. It's something of our imagination come to life, a small wonder in an everyday, grown-up world.

Mai’s Cookie Pizza (I wish I had a picture of the full cookie to show you, but somehow everytime I make this, it gets divided up and devoured before I ever fetch my camera.)

6 tbsp. butter, softened
¾ c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar till fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Dump dough onto standard 12-inch round baking pan lined with foil. Press dough evenly into a 10 ½ inch circle (leaving about an inch and a half border). Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cookie is a light golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve.