Farewell Cooking Tour: Eggless Snickerdoodle Nutella Cookie Cake

For my final day of work,  I needed to really hit my coworkers hard with the reality that I was leaving. One last time, I was going to have to delight them with my baked goods and really put the pressure on Kristina, the young, up and coming chemist/baker in the office (clearly I started a trend).

Since I had nothing to worry about the night before other than continuing my recent, improved Smash Bros. play, I decided to make two final delectable entries in my quest to cause our company's insurance premiums to go up. After much careful consideration, it was determined that Nutella was going to help me make it extra memorable.

First up was supposed to be my go-to eggless snickerdoodle cookies now filled with Nutella, but fate and my attention span had other plans.

Snickerdoodle Nutella Cookie Cake

Adapted from the Previously Seen Cookie

Servings: 1, 9" round cookie cake

Time: 35 minutes

Nutella Layer!

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar, 

1 cup dark brown sugar

4 tbsp sour cream

4 tbsp milk

2 tbsp vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2-3 tsp cinnamon

Nutella (lots)

Cinnamon Sugar combo for dusting

Failing to grease the pan may lead to structural damage 

1. Decide to make Nutella filled snickerdoodles. 
2. Give up after making one batch of cookies because it takes too long.
3. Have a eureka moment where you realize you can just make one giant cookie.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
5. Cream the butter and sugars together in a stand mixer.
6. Mix in the milk, sour cream, and vanilla.
7. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon until thoroughly incorporated.
8. Spray a 9" round cake pan.
9. Spread half the mixture in a layer in the pan.
10. Add a layer of Nutella.
11. Spread on the remaining mixture for a second layer (try to keep it between 1/2 to 2/3 full).
12. Dust the top with cinnamon and sugar.
13. Bake for 18-24 minutes. This will be tricky to tell because the snickerdoodles will rise up high while in the oven. Following removal, they will drop back down for an extremely dense cake.
14. Let cool. 
15. Frost if this isn't enough of a sugar bomb for you.

The single batch of cookies that were made. They were just as delicious.

The decision to turn this into a cookie cake may have been the greatest decision I ever made at my old company. The Nutella and snickerdoodle combined for an awesome, gooey cinnamon explosion that just might have been the best cookie cake I have ever had (take that mall cookie stands!). The dense (in both weight and flavor) cake provided the perfect change-up from typical dessert fare to really get my final baking adventure off to a killer start. Icing the cake with the leftover frosting from my other dessert may have been overkill, but no one seemed to notice, as the cake was gone before lunchtime.

Frosting- perfect for covering up cookie cake deformities and for that morning pick me up

Stay tuned for the for even more sugary, hazelnutty sweetness with Cafe du Monde Cupcakes.