North Carolina Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

It’s everything you love about chocolate chip cookies without the dough chilling and labor intensive cookie dough ball rolling! Let’s hear it for this easy baked chocolate chip cookie cake!

There’s so much to love about a baked chocolate chip cookie cake. The chewy edge pieces, the soft and buttery center, and the ability to go from dessert-less and sad to cookie cake nirvana in about 20 minutes. 

Here’s what we recommend:

Take the shortcut method and utilize a pre-made refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough as your base. Then, add extra chocolate chips (the standard tub of dough never has enough) and top the cookie with flaky sea salt for the perfect salty crunch in every bite. If you’d prefer to make your dough from scratch, you’ll need a chocolate chip cookie recipe that makes about 2 dozen cookies to fill the North Carolina baking dish. That’s about ¾ of a traditional cookie recipe. Whichever you choose to use, just make sure your cookie dough goes about ¾ up the edge of the dish.

Some things to remember when you’re perfecting your cookie cake—don’t overbake your cookie. We tend to fear under-baked baked goods (yet were we not the ones eating raw cookie dough before?) but the fact is, the cookie will retain heat and continue to bake even after the dish comes out of the oven. 

Bake your chocolate chip cookie cake until the edges are golden and then let it rest until the center is near room temperature. Or if you just can’t wait (we won’t judge) grab a big spoon and dig in while it’s hot and deliciously gooey.

North Carolina Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Ingredients

• 1 ½ -16.5 oz tubes Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• ½ cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1 teaspoon Flaked Sea Salt, to top
• Optional, ½ cup pecans

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350F. 
2. Press the pre-made cookie dough into your preferred baking dish making sure to keep the center and edges an even thickness. The dough should cover up to ¾ the height of the baking dish, leaving room for it to rise.
3. Top the cookie dough with the milk chocolate chips and press them into the dough gently. If you're adding pecans, gently press them into the dough as well. Bake the cookie cake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden. 
4. Finish the cookie with a sprinkle of flaked sea salt and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.