Jumbo Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Cookie

This is dessert for people who like their cookies oversized and sliced like pizza. A roll of refrigerated cookie dough gets pressed into a 12-inch pizza pan and baked into one jumbo round, then topped with a fluffy peanut butter and cream cheese frosting and finished with chopped peanuts.

The shortcut is the whole point: no scooping, no rolling, no dozens of individual cookies to stagger through the oven. One bake, one frost, done. Slice into 12 wedges and you have dessert for the crowd.

Let the cookie cool completely before frosting. Warm cookie under cream cheese frosting melts into a soupy mess. A truly cold base holds the frosting high and keeps the peanuts from sliding off the edges.

Kitchen Tips

• Press the cookie dough out evenly, about ¼ inch thick. Thin edges burn while the center is still doughy.
• Bake just until the edges are golden and the center looks slightly underdone. It firms up as it cools, and an overbake gives you cookie-cracker, not chewy cookie.
• Beat the frosting on medium speed for a full 2 to 3 minutes. Short whips give you dense, heavy topping; longer mixing makes it light and pipeable.
• Cut with a sharp knife dipped in warm water and wiped between slices for clean wedges.
• Use a pizza cutter if the frosting is soft. A heavy knife drags the topping off and leaves messy edges.

Variations

• Swap the cookie dough for chocolate chip, peanut butter, or sugar cookie dough for different base flavors.
• Drizzle melted chocolate or caramel over the peanuts for extra decadence.
• Sprinkle mini chocolate chips or crushed Reese’s cups over the frosting for a peanut-butter-cup vibe.