“COOPIECAKE” For years, I’ve wondered why I’d never seen a recipe for a cookie, within a pie, within a cake.  This weekend, I decided to research the idea.  I mean, if there’s a recipe for a chicken within a duck within a turkey (turducken), surely someone had come up with something similar in a dessert.  Well, I found a pie inside a cake, but based on my research, I wasn’t able to find a recipe that added a cookie.

I’ve never been one to simply follow directions anyway, in the kitchen or anywhere else.  Here’s a prime example of why:   When I was a teenager, living with my dad, he’d bought me a set of paperback Betty Crocker cookbooks.  Of course, I was thrilled, and decided to try a recipe for hash browns, made from scratch.  He wasn’t there when I tried it, and I’m so glad he wasn’t.  The directions said to put three large potatoes in 1/4 cup of water and boil until tender.  Does something sound wrong with the proportions here?  Oh, well, cookbooks never have mistakes in them, do they?  I set the timer for 20 minutes and returned to find the water completely evaporated and the REALLY EXPENSIVE ceramic pot stuck to the electric eye of the stove!!  I could actually see the rings from the eye through the pot.  Holy Cow!  Dad is going to kill me!

What happened next remained a secret for more than 30 years.  I poured water into the pot to release it from the stove.  I dumped the potatoes, of course.  I then took the pot to the farthest point in the backyard, dug a hole and buried it!  Problem solved.  Whew!  He had lots of pots, and that was the medium-sized one of the set.  If he missed it, he never said anything.  About five years ago, he was digging in the backyard for a new fencepost, and I thought I’d better come clean, in case he found the pot.  I was too old to be grounded at that point, right?  He thought my story was funny.  I doubt it would have had the same result if I’d told him at the time it happened.  Moral of the story:  Don’t blindly follow along if something doesn’t seem right.  Trust your own judgment enough to ask questions.

So on to the recipe of the day.  My daughter and I were having the conversation about the “coopiecake,” and I asked her what combination she’d like to try.  Her favorite pie is pecan, and her favorite cake is carrot.  A sugar cookie seemed to fit nicely in the combination, and I was off to the grocery store.  What follows is my version, but I encourage you to try your own and think out of box.

 

SUGAR COOKIE PECAN PIE CARROT CAKE (COOPIECAKE)

 

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE COOKIE:

1 (17 1/2 ounce) package Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, melted (I used butter)

1 egg

 

FOR THE PECAN PIE FILLING:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

(or self-rising and omit baking powder and salt)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon light or dark Karo syrup (your preference)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

 

FOR THE CAKE AND FROSTING:

1 box Pillsbury carrot cake + ingredients on the box

1 container cream cheese frosting

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

DIRECTIONS:

MAKE THE COOKIE AS FOLLOWS:

1.    Heat oven to 350°F, 325 for dark or nonstick pans.

2.    Spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

3.    In medium bowl, stir all cookie ingredients until soft dough forms.

4.    Press dough in bottom of pan, using floured fingers.

5.    Bake 20 minutes, or until brown around the edges.

 

NEXT COMES THE PIE FILLING:

6.    While the cookie is baking, in a medium bowl, stir all pecan filling ingredients until well blended.

7.    Once the cookie is done, remove from the oven and pour filling over the cookie, covering completely.

8.    Return to oven and bake 15 minutes or until center is set.

9.    Let cool approximately one hour and cut into bars.

 

 

 

Here’s a photo of the pecan pie cookie…

Yummy on their own!

But wait... there's more.

 

 

 

AND THEN THE CAKE:

10.   Heat oven to 350oF, 325 for dark or nonstick pans.

11.   Mix the cake according to the directions on the box.

12.   Spray the bottom and sides of a 13x9 pan with cooking spray.

13.   Pour 1/3 of the cake batter into the pan and spread out evenly.

14.   Take the pecan pie-cookie bars and place on top of the cake batter.  If you want, you can save some bars out, just in case there are people in your life who aren’t as adventurous as you are. Ha!

15.   Pour the remaining 2/3 batter on top of the pecan pie-cookie bars and bake as directed on the box.  Test for doneness by wiggling the pan a bit.  If it moves in the middle, add another three minutes and check again.  Remove from the oven when the center is set.

16.   Let cool for at least an hour.

17.   Frost with cream cheese frosting.

18.   Sprinkle the top with chopped pecans.

 

 

 

 

And here’s the resulting Coopiecake.

Look out, neighbors.  Here I come again!

 

 

 

 

If you’ve tried this recipe and have gotten to the point of reading this, Welcome to my world!  It’s a great, big world, which is only limited by our imagination.  Don’t be afraid to try something new in the kitchen.  The worst that could happen is that you’re not successful.  But if you never try, it’s guaranteed that you won’t be.

Try other combinations.  What about chocolate cake and pecan pie, with a chocolate chip cookie crust?  Hmm… that really sounds good to me!  As always, if you have questions, comments or suggestions for this, or any of my other articles, please feel free to post them.  Thanks for reading.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it!

Last modified on Monday, 27 June 2011 08:35