What the heck is Pizookie?

I am not a big dessert person. I oftentimes will turn down dessert altogether. I usually just don’t have room. We were at a restaurant a while back and we had finished dinner so the server offered us dessert. They had something called Pizookie, which I had never heard of. She explained that it was a pizza sized warm cookie, served in a cast iron pan with ice cream. It was to be eaten right out of the pan with spoons. My kids were sold when they heard the words “warm cookie” and eating it right out of the pan? Sign them up!

When she returned with our Pizookie, she also brought a spoon for me. “You really should try it,” she said, “there’s nothing quite like it.” And so I did. Crispy on the edges, soft, gooey and melty in the middle, with ice cream to cool and cut the sweetness… holy heck. One of the best things I have ever tried. So being me, I wanted to make it. Surprisingly, it is very easy and it tastes just as good as the one in the restaurant. You can make all sorts of varieties but Chocolate Chip is a great starting point.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Start out by putting softened butter, brown sugar and white sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer. I was using Kerrygold butter because it’s AMAZING but regular, salted butter is just fine.

Cream together the butter and sugars until they are well combined. You might have to scrape the sides of the bowl couple of times.

Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix again. Scrape the sides of the bowl if needed.

Once everything is combined, turn the mixer sped up to medium-high and beat the mixture until it starts looking fluffy. It will take about a minute.

While it is working on getting fluffy, get out a medium bowl and combine the flour, instant pudding powder, baking soda and baking powder. I use a whisk to make sure it gets really well mixed.

Reduce the speed on the mixer and add the dry mixture to the wet mixture about a third at a time until it is all incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Once it is all one big happy family, remove the bowl from the mixer.

Set aside 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips and stir the rest into the batter until they are well distributed.

Spread the batter into a 12 inch cast iron skillet. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just spread out in a flat layer. Sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on the top.

Place the skillet into the preheated oven and cook for 25 minutes or until the edges are browned and crispy.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.

Cut into triangles and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream OR give everyone a spoon, put a couple of scoops of ice cream on the top and eat it right out of the pan! Enjoy!