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Last Updated on January 27, 2021 by Chenée Lewis
We’ve made it to Day 11 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies series! And this is a good one. All my fellow 80s babies remember the iconic mall stores that sold those amazing chocolate chip cookie cakes! The ones with the frosting piped around the edges and “Happy Birthday” written in the middle. They were so amazing, and really take me back to childhood, especially at holiday time! Luckily, we’ve got this Christmas cookie cake to bring back all those memories!
Best of all, it’s SO easy to make — the dough is basically the same as a classic chocolate chip cookie dough, but instead of having to scoop out dozens of cookies, you’ll just need to press the dough into your springform pan! It couldn’t be easier! Let’s get into the ingredients you’ll need for this Christmas cookie cake!
Ingredients
- salted butter – I like to use salted butter, but if you only have unsalted that’s fine too! Just add 1/2 tsp salt in with your dry ingredients later!
- brown sugar & granulated sugar – I like a combo of brown sugar and white sugar to achieve a sweetness in this Christmas Cookie cake that is rich, but balanced.
- eggs – make sure your eggs are room temperature!
- pure vanilla extract – vanilla is a major flavor in this cookie cake, so make sure you use a great-quality vanilla extract.
- all-purpose flour – I definitely recommend measuring your flour by weight using a kitchen scale. For this recipe, you’ll need 288 grams of flour.
- baking soda – gives this Christmas cookie cake a bit of lift!
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips – I like the look and texture of mini chips, but you can use regular chocolate chips or chunks of semisweet chocolate if you like!
- m&ms – I like to add some holiday M&Ms to the top of the cake before baking, and also on top of the frosting after it’s baked!
- sprinkles – I like to use a mix of festive sprinkles to add some fun to this Christmas Cookie cake!
- frosting – you’ll need a buttercream frosting to pipe on to decorate this cookie cake! I like to keep this recipe super easy, so I grabbed a Pillsbury filled pastry bag to make decorating the cookie cake as quick and simple as possible. You could also use a store-bought decorating icing! Or if you’d like to make a great buttercream frosting from scratch, check out my mini vanilla cake recipe!
Equipment
The main tool you’ll need for this Christmas Cookie cake is a 9-inch springform pan, cake pan, or a tart pan with a removable bottom, which is what I used. If you use a tart pan, be sure it’s at least 1.5 inches deep to accommodate the amount of cookie dough!
Step by Step
- Start your Christmas cookie cake by creaming together your butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Once they’re nice and fluffy, add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix another few minutes until everything is fluffy and smooth.
- Then you’ll sift in your flour and baking soda (and salt, if using unsalted butter).
- Fold the dry ingredients in using a rubber spatula. You don’t want to overmix the dough, so just fold until everything is just barely combined. Now you’re almost done!
- Fold in your chocolate chips until they’re evenly distributed. Then press your dough into your prepared pan. You can use your hands or coat a spoon with a little powdered sugar to keep it from sticking to the dough.
- Now you can have fun with your m&ms and sprinkles! Sprinkle them all over the top of the cake — as many as you like!
- Bake! Check it after 20 minutes — it should be done but slightly soft in the center, which is perfect! Let your Christmas cookie cake cool completely before decorating with frosting and more sprinkles!
Related Recipes
If you like this Christmas Cookie cake, you should definitely try the other recipes in my 12 Days of Christmas cookies series! One of my new favorites is this cinnamon palmiers recipe! They’re
And for another classic holiday cookie recipe, you definitely should try my no-chill cutout Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles! They’re my new go-to for our Christmas Eve cookie-making tradition!
Christmas Cookie Cake
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeEquipment you may need
- 9-inch springform pan
- 9-inch tart pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter - room temperatuer (2 sticks)
- ½ cup light brown sugar - packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs - room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour - (288 grams)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup holiday m&ms
- ¼ cup sprinkles, nonpareils, and/or sanding sugar
- frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a springform pan, tart pan, or cake pan with baking spray (see note).
- In a bowl, cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Mix in eggs, followed by vanilla extract. Beat for another 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
- Sift in flour and baking soda. Fold with a rubber spatula until just incorporated.
- Fold in mini chocolate chips.
- Press dough into the bottom of prepared pan using hands or a spoon dipped in powdered sugar.
- Add sprinkles and M&Ms evenly to top of dough.
- Bake 20-25 minutes in preheated oven or until browned on the edges.
- Cool in pan at least 30 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled.
- Use a piping bag to swirl frosting around the edge of cooled cake. Top frosting with M&Ms and sprinkles.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This recipe was so much fun to make! I loved that while it was in the oven, my whole house smelled like one big chocolate chip cookie! I also really enjoyed decorating this cookie, although mine was not nearly as beautiful as yours!
Thank you so much! It’s so fun to make!
This cookie cake was so fun to make with my kiddos! In fact, we plan on making it again to leave out for Santa on Christmas eve!
So fun! I”m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This was so much fun to make! Our decorating skills need a little work, but it turned out great. 🙂 Now we are going to make another one for the family this week!
Yay! I’m glad you all liked it 🙂
So my cookie cake didn’t turn out as gorgeous as yours but it was absolutely delicious! Thanks for this recipe.
The taste is all that matters! Thank you for trying it! 🙂
I love a Cookie Cake and this one did not disappoint. We kicked off our Christmas festivities with this yummy baby. I loved the flavors the green and red M&Ms added.
Thank you! I’m so glad it was part of your Christmas celebration!
Omg I LOVE this! Me and my husband LOVE chocolate chip cookies so I feel like this would be an absolute hit in our house!
Oh yeah if you love chocolate chip, this definitely feeds that craving!
Cookie in a cake? Sign me up! This looks amazing.
Thank you! It’s so good!
What a great idea , I love your Christmas Cookie Cake. Looking forward to making some with the family. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much!
We love a good cookie cake and are delighted to add this to our holiday tradition! I love it because it’s so easy to make. My crew loves how delicious it is.
Yay I’m so glad it was a hit with you AND with the crew!!
This is such a fun and festive cake! My kids would absolutely adore this – might try making this with them this week.
You should! It’s super fun. 🙂
Chenee! This is such a beautiful idea that I will try this Christmas with my son’s help. This seems so much more doable than making and decorating dozens of cookies!
Thank you! It’s definitely way easier than making lots of cookies!
This was an awesome recipe.! We baked two… I decorated one and the kiddos the other. We ate one and shared the other one with my husbands coworkers. Everyone thought they were cute AND delicious. Thank you for sharing.
So fun! I’m glad everyone enjoyed them 🙂
The sprinkles, the chocolate, the m&ms! Everything about this cookie cake is just exceptional! I made this for dessert and my family couldn’t get enough of it!
Thank you! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed 🙂
You’re right. This was so easy to make. It’s a wonder cookie world in the mall is still open. I subd my carob chip cookie dough here and was quite pleased with the allergy-friendly version of this cult classic.
I’m glad you were able to make an allergy-friendly swap!
This is so easy to make and really fun and festive. I love the idea of turning a cookie into a cake! Brilliant.
Thanks so much! It’s a fun twist on cookies for Santa!
I remember these cookies fondly and am excited to have a recipe to now make them at home!
I’m glad it brings back memories! Thanks! 🙂