How to Make a Giant Chocolate Chip Birthday Cookie

Emma insists that her 15th birthday was the first time she ever got a giant birthday cookie. Poor baby, right?

It was a long time ago, but I did make her one years ago. I remember it very clearly because I agonized over how to get it out of the pan without breaking.

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I’m not a fan of store-bought birthday cakes/cookies. And the reasons are many.

1. I don’t want to have to order something and then go pick it up.
2. I think it’s impersonal. I want to make it with love.
3. If I make it, I know what’s in it. I use real butter, cut out a bit of the sugar, and maybe add some funky ingredients.

This year I made two big birthday cookies, and they both came out of the pan perfectly. My secret weapon was parchment paper. I tried two pans, and both worked really well thanks to Superhero Parchment Paper. So you can use either (or both) depending on what types of pans you have in your own kitchen.

My recipe was this one. Except I used a bit more than one cup of mini-chocolate chips and did not use any nuts. I think that larger chunks of chocolate chips and nuts makes the cookie more prone to buckle and break versus a finer consistency with no nuts and mini-chips.

Basically your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough will work. The keys are the pan preparation, baking time, and cooling time.

Method 1: Pie Pan with Parchment Paper

I cut off a large piece of parchment paper and placed it inside the glass pie pan. Then I used my fingernail to score around the base of the pan. Using that line as my guide, I cut out the circle, leaving very wide tabs at four quadrants. I didn’t want the parchment to be bunched up along the sides, but I needed something sticking out to grab onto. The tabs worked perfectly.

Method 2: Springform Pan with Parchment Paper

I also used my springform pan. I lined the bottom with a parchment square, attached the side part, clamped it down, and then trimmed the edges a bit.

Baking & Cooling the Big Birthday Cookies

For both pans, I greased the paper and sides very lightly with the greasy paper wrapper from the two sticks of butter.

Then I divided the batter between the two pans, spread it to the edges, and baked them both for 20 minutes. Then I let them both cool, in the pans, on wire racks for about 15 minutes. These tall wire racks seem to get the job done faster than the typical short ones that hold heat underneath.

The springform pan was easy. I took off the side of the pan, and slid the cookie onto the wire rack by pulling on the parchment paper.

The pie pan was a tad trickier just because it had sides, but it was still very easy to grab two opposite tabs and lift it quickly onto the wire rack. I let both cookies cool further before taking the paper off the bottom.

Decorating the Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

I kept it simple and easy. I melted some semi-sweet chips in a bowl and spooned the liquid into a tiny zip top bag. By snipping off a tiny corner of the bag, I had a disposable pastry bag that made it easy to write out Happy Birthday.

Viola. The cookies were soft from outer edge to the inside and they taste great! I got major cool mom points from the teenager. So it was a success.