A patriotic dessert that everyone will love!? This 4th of July Cookie Cake is it! It’s a fantastic party dessert that will be gone in no time and it truly tastes as good as it looks.
Festive Cookie Cake
Why is cookie cake so much better than regular cookies or regular cake? In college, my roommate and I would order full cookie cakes from Insomnia cookies with fluffy frosting. This cake reminds me of those giggly late nights! Take the best parts of a cookie, the ease of a sheet pan, and boom! The best of both worlds.
Cookie cake is delectable. Have you ever had a cookie skillet? It’s super moist and much softer and chewier than your typical cookie. Feel bad about eating 5 cookies? Just slice a larger slice of cookie cake instead;)
Bake this 4th of July Cookie Cake for your backyard barbecue, potluck, family get together, or kids party this summer. It’ll be gone so fast, you might want to bake two.
And if you’re looking for more party desserts, also check out these Dirt Cake Cookies, this Gluten Free Fruit Pizza, these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Blondies, or these Funfetti White Chocolate Chip Cookies that I know you’ll love, too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter – Gives your cookie cake a tender and rich texture.
- Brown Sugar – Brown sugar adds sweetness but with some additional moisture as compared to white sugar alone. Brown sugar also makes our cookie cake chewier.
- All Purpose Four: – Serves as a classic base to our cookie cake. I’ve not tried any flour alternatives.
- Salt – This contrasts the sugar so the cake isn’t too sweet. Salt also helps strengthen the proteins in your dough for a chewier cookie. Don’t leave it out!
- Mini Chocolate Chips – You’ll want to use mini to get the perfect ratio of chocolate to cookie in this cookie cake.
- Frosting – I used Betty Crocker Fluffy White Frosting. Use your favorite or make your own, but Betty Crocker is IT in my opinion.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a KitchenAid stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until creamed completely (roughly 3-5 minutes).
2. Add in vanilla extract and eggs and mix together again.
3. Then, add all of the dry ingredients into the bowl: flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Mix together until dough forms and all of the flour is absorbed.
4. Pour in mini chocolate chips and stir briefly until they’re combined.
5. Pour the batter into a parchment lined, greased baking sheet and spread so it’s an even thickness all the way to the edges. You may need to use your hands to push the batter into place on your baking sheet because it’s thicccc.
6. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Do not over bake. Due to the sheer size of the cookie cake, the middle should still be a little gooey and underdone. We want it this way.
7. Add food coloring dye to white frosting if desired. Once your cookie cake is completely cooled, add frosting to a piping bag, ziplock with the corner cut off (DIY piping bag) or you could frost with a knife in any fashion you see fit. ENJOY!
Fun Idea
Make this for other holidays, too!
Use this recipe for any holiday or celebration and just switch up the frosting colors and decoration. It’s a crowd pleasing dessert that’s so versatile!
- Christmas: Use red and green frosting. Pipe trees, stockings, snowmen, gift boxes, or snowflakes.
- Halloween: Use orange and black frosting! Pipe pumpkins, ghosts, or spider webs.
- Valentine’s Day: Use pink, red, and purple frosting. Pipe some hearts!
- Baby Shower: Use pastel pink or blue. Pipe the word “baby” or numbers or the ABC’s.
- Birthday: Use rainbow frosting or the birthday boy/girl’s favorite colors. Add the person’s name or age!
Turn these into ice cream cookie sandwiches
After baking the cookie cake, use a rolling pin to flatten the cake (it’s easier for sandwich construction). Freeze for 30 minutes until cookie is pretty solid. Use a ruler to measure 3″ squares accordingly. Cut with a warm knife (helps slice through the cookie). Then square off ice cream filling between each sandwich.
You’ll need to do this quickly as the ice cream can melt. Freeze again for 30 minutes until ice cream is hardened. Dip in sprinkles prior to serving for a festive bite!
Recipe FAQs
Both are typically large, flat desserts decorated with frosting, but cookie cake has a cookie base and dessert pizza is typically a shortbread crust.
I suggest cutting your cookie cake into squares if you’re making a rectangular cookie cake or triangular, pizza-like slices if you’re making a circular cookie cake. Using a sharp knife, make straight cuts into your cookie cake. You want to make sure you cut all the way through so the pieces don’t crumble when you grab a slice.
Don’t over bake your cookie cake! You want to pull the cookie cake from the oven right as it starts to brown on top. It’ll continue to bake after you pull it out. This is important so you avoid a crunchy cookie center!
Keep your cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days (if it lasts that long). You can store it on the counter or in the fridge depending upon your own preference. It will still be edible for up to a week but may lose some of its soft texture. You can also freeze slices of this cookie cake for up to 3 months.
More Recipes You’ll Love
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and comment in the recipe card below. Thanks for visiting!
4th of July Cookie Cake
Equipment
- 9×13 Baking sheet
- parchment paper
- KitchenAid mixer
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Rubber Spatula
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups** all purpose flour, see note
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp baking sofa
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 bag mini chocolate chips, 10 oz
- 1 can Betty Crocker Fluffy White Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease it with cooking spray.
- In a KitchenAid stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until creamed completely (roughly 3-5 minutes).
- Add in vanilla extract and eggs and mix together again.
- Add all of the dry ingredients into the bowl: flour**, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Mix together until dough forms and all of the flour is absorbed. To make this more cookie dough like texture, it has been tested by omitting 1/2 cup of flour to achieve a doughier texture.
- Pour in mini chocolate chips and stir briefly until they’re combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased, parchment lined baking sheet and spread so it’s an even thickness all the way to the edges.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Do not over bake. Due to the sheer size of the cookie cake, the middle should still be a little gooey and underdone. We want it this way.
- Allow the cookie to cool. It needs to chill up in order for the center to harden prior to serving. Break out that willpower sistaa, this one’s worth waiting for (30 minutes longer).
- Add food coloring dye to white frosting if desired. Once your cookie cake is completely cooled, add frosting to a piping bag, ziplock with the corner cut off (DIY piping bag) or frost with a knife in any fashion you see fit.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Video
Notes
Looking for this in MyFitnessPal?
If you’re using MyFitnessPal, search ‘A Paige Of Positivity’ and find Cookie Cake calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
I couldn’t decide if eating the raw dough or cooked dough was better – it’s just SO TASTY!
A dangerous treat to make when it ends in a fight over the last bite!
OMG I made these for the fourth only I used red white and blue M&Ms, covered the top with a little of my own frosting and sprinkled a couple more M&Ms over the top for color since I’m too impatient to decorate. I took the cookie bars to a party and they were the first treats gone…I also ate WAY too many.
They also freeze well.
Thank you for this recipe!
I brought this to a family gathering and it was gone so quick! Such a cute dessert idea!
My bestie made this for our party! It was SO good! I cannot wait for more recipes like this 🙂
Amazing recipe! I made this for the fourth and ate WAY too much of it. Was definitely a hit at our party. Thank you for sharing.
Hi there! What size cookie sheet do you suggest using for this recipe? Can’t wait to try it!
Hey Madison! We used a 9×13 baking sheet. You can use larger or smaller if that’s what you have just keep an eye on it and adjust your bake time accordingly (a few more minutes in a smaller one since it’ll be thicker, a few less minutes in a larger pan since it’ll be thinner
What is the size of your baking pan?
We used a 9×13 baking sheet. The recipe card has been updated to reflect this:) You can use larger or smaller if that’s what you have just keep an eye on it and adjust your bake time accordingly (a few more minutes in a smaller one since it’ll be thicker, a few less minutes in a larger pan since it’ll be thinner
This cookie cake was so delicious and such a big hit at my 4th of July Party!! I definitely will be making this again!
Perfect 4th of July dessert. Easy to make ahead of time
This recipe is phenomenal! Made it for a 4th of July party and everyone loved it. This recipe will now be a staple in my house for every holiday!
This is a 10/10 – huge success! We’re not a cake family over here, and I knew I needed something amazing. I can always count on an APOP recipe to be a crowd favorite. We had a group of 8 year old girls asking for seconds of this cookie cake! Definitely recommend.