Daniel's Birthday

Today was Daniel's birthday. This afternoon Mom and I were talking about what kind of cake to get for his celebration tonight when I remembered that he just loves cookie cakes. Remembering that I had two packages of cookie mix at home, I set out to see if I could make a cookie cake like the bakeries do. After searching the web for recipes with no luck, I decided to try just making the dough as normal and rolling it into a pie shape on my pizza stone. Guess what? I found on the mix package a recipe for cookie bars that was just that. (A baking secret - use parchment paper - yes even on stones! It keeps cookies moist and they don't burn on bottom or stick.) So to my surprise, making a cookie cake is extremely easy. By simply mixing two Betty Crocker packages of cookie mix, rolling it out, baking and adding a little frosting, I ended up with this beautiful cake... ...to which, I must add, was extremely tasty. We celebrated the event starting with dinner at Lamberts Cafe in Ozark (along with hundreds of others), after waiting for just over an hour. Then we retired to Brian & Jenn's new home for cake, ice cream and opening Daniel's presents. Daniel had a very enjoyable birthday. By the way, today was an extra special birthday since the date was 7/7/07.