When I told my cousin what we would be having for dessert for our dinner party this past weekend (“pizookie”) she had to google what that was.
Normally I keep my dinner party menu under close wraps so I can surprise and delight my guests with shock and awe when I bring food to the table. (See The Tucci Timpano I served for Easter.) But since I was asking her and her boyfriend to bring ice cream, they wanted to know what flavor of ice cream they should bring.
Simple question.
I probably should have just told them to bring vanilla because really vanilla is best for almost any dessert that involves adding ice cream on top. But I wanted them to have say in the ice cream choice so I spilled the beans and got my cousin all confused/intrigued about dessert.
Spoiler alert: they brought Vanilla Thrifty brand ice cream. Which was perfect for this dessert.
The theme of the evening was comfort food. We started with a nice arugula salad with plenty of creamy avocado, cheese and salami. Then we had some Beecher’s Mac and Cheese and homemade Italian Semolina Bread. By the time we got to dessert, we were more than sufficiently full. I had divided up the cookie dough into three cast-iron skillets big enough to serve two or three people, but of course I intended for us to each have our own skillet because one big skillet that’s all your own is more fun than sharing.
Alas we were too full so there was discussion about what we should do with the three skillets. Bake one and reserve two? Bake two and reserve one? Bake all three? We settled on baking all three and when I brought them to the table, Matt nearly choked asking if we were each eating our own (which is honestly what I thought he’d said he wanted…) So we split one and topped it with our Thrifty ice cream and some homemade vegan hot fudge sauce. And let me tell you, it! was! amazing!
My preference is to undercook these slightly so I cooked them for about 17 minutes. They definitely could have baked longer but were perfect as is IMO. If you’re like me and you never tried making your own Pizookie (and perhaps only ever had one at BJs), you should try this recipe. It’s so simple to make, so delicious and comforting and so beautiful on top of everything else. If you don’t have individual cast iron skillets you can use a 9 or 10-inch skillet. No cast iron at all? No problem. Use a pie pan or cake pan.
Recipe courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens.
ingredients.
- 2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 c. butter, softened
- 1 c. packed brown sugar
- ½ c. granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 T. vanilla
- 1 12-oz package milk chocolate chocolate chips (or your favorite flavor chocolate)
- ½ c. walnuts or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
directions.
- Place rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- In a large mixing bowl beat butter and sugars with mixer on medium-high 2 to 3 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla. In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Add flour, salt and soda and beat into butter mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Spread evenly into an ungreased 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet or smaller individual cast iron skillets. Bake 40 to 45 minutes for a 9-inch skillet; 30 minutes for 10-inch; 20 minutes for individual smaller skillets or until evenly browned. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes in skillet on a wire rack. Top with ice cream and hot fudge, optional, but worth it.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 