Funfetti Skillet Cookie with White Chocolate Chips

Last week was a little bit cray-cray. I'm still recovering from it. I'm not usually someone who makes a big deal about my birthday but somehow I ended up with multiple birthday celebrations and multiple birthday cakes. I have the best friends and I'm incredibly lucky. And then on top of that I also happened to attend the awards ceremony for Cosmopolitan Australia's Fun Fearless Female Awards and somehow came away with the award for Blogger of the Year. What?!

In true Steph style, I had completely convinced myself that I had zero chance of winning. I never win anything. Not exaggerating. Okay, I might have won a speech night award at school once but that doesn't count. I had managed to pick up a cold the day before so I was on the cold and flu meds, and then started enjoying the Moscato a little too much (don't try this at home, kids) so was totally shocked when I had to go up and accept my award. Cosmo put on a great event and it was hugely humbling to be surrounded by all these amazing women, like sportswoman of the year Jacqui Freney and overall winner Turia Pitt. And then there's me, who plays around with butter and sugar on the weekends. Surreal. I was there because I have amazing readers who voted for me! So this post is for you guys, thank you for voting for me!

Now on to this skillet cookie. Last week I received some amazing cast iron skillets from the awesome Karen and I knew I needed to make a skillet cookie. For those unfamiliar with it, it's one giant biscuit/cookie baked in a pan, so it's crunchy on the edges and chewy in the middle. Heaven. And then Lisa made me this incredible funfetti fairy bread birthday cake and reminded me how much better life is when it's full of rainbow sprinkles. So I decided to combine these two awesome things and make myself a Funfetti Skillet Cookie.

It kind of looks like unicorn vomit. I don't mean to be gross but that's what my first thought was when I cut into this. The innards are probably not the prettiest, since the cookie dough is quite dark brown and so the sprinkles inside don't show up as much. But it looks pretty damn cute from the top, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And it tastes SO much better than it looks. Still warm from the oven, it has a crunchy, golden, buttery edge, with a soft and chewy middle. I don't know why it's taken me this long to make a skillet cookie, but this will definitely be the first of many.

There's also white chocolate chips inside the cookie, you'll find small pockets of melted white chocolate throughout it if you eat it warm. I know the sprinkles don't really add any flavour but I just love how fun and happy the cookie looks with all the bright colours. It was really tempted to lift the whole thing out of the skillet and take a bite out of it like it was one gigantic biscuit. I might still do it.

Funfetti Skillet-Baked Cookie with White Chocolate Chips

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 cups (about 260g) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp baking (bi-carb) soda

1/2 tsp salt

170g (3/4 cup) butter, softened

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup rainbow sprinkles (I used half 100s and 1000s and half of the long skinny soft sprinkles)

1 cup (about 170g/6oz) white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate 

To serve: Vanilla ice cream and extra rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 10-inch (25 cm) ovenproof skillet. (If you have a smaller skillet, you may end up with excess dough, which you can just bake on a sheet as regular sized cookies) Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on high with an electric mixer until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 mins. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. With the mixer on low, add the flour and rainbow sprinkles and mix until just incorporated. Stir in white chocolate chips.

Transfer mixture to the skillet and press to flatten, so that the surface is even and covers the bottom of the pan. Bake until edges are brown and top is golden, about 40 to 45 minutes. If you find it is browning too quickly (mine started to due to the cast iron pan and the fan-forced oven) you can reduce the oven temperature slightly. Don't overbake; it will continue to cook a few minutes out of the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm with vanilla ice cream and extra sprinkles.