Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

Some time ago, we were invited to visit our friends, TJ & Lauren, and it just so happened that I had made a batch of mini vegan vanilla cupcakes, so we decided to bring them along.  I hadn't frosted them yet, so Kaia (perhaps jokingly) suggested we top them with cookie dough.  She and TJ had made up a song about how "cookie dough is better than bread dough" while we were on vacation together, so she thought he would appreciate that.  Well, as delicious as that sounded, I didn't feel comfortable with cookie dough (which contains raw eggs) sitting out on the table for any length of time before we ate it, and I wasn't sure how well it would hold up, either.  I decided, instead, to try to come up with a frosting recipe that was reminiscent of cookie dough.

I did okay.  I knew I needed brown sugar, vanilla, chocolate chips, a dash of salt... I mean, I got the general cookie dough essence, and everybody seemed to like it just fine, but, in my opinion, it was not quite perfect.  It was tasty frosting, and it was definitely reminiscent of cookie dough, but something was missing.  I decided to keep trying.

Then, just recently, I saw a couple of recipes posted ont he internet for cookie dough that was intended to be eaten raw.  The point of these recipes was to create a chocolate chip cookie dough for snacking that did not contain raw eggs.  I thought about using the stuff as a topping for my cupcakes, but I wanted something more traditionally frosting-like.  Then again, I wanted something more like cookie dough than my original recipe.  I Oh, and I wanted it to be vegan.  So, you know, that's simple, right?  I suspected the answer might lie somewhere between these "snack dough" recipes and my original frosting recipe.

After giving it a lot of thought, I decided that what was missing was the flour.  It just didn't quite taste like dough without the flour. I wasn't sure how putting flour into frosting would work out.  I mean, I don;t usually eat raw flour, and the idea of doing so seems kind of yucky.  On the other hand, when I did eat raw cookie dough, it had flour in it, and I sure never thought it was yucky.  So, I had been meaning to play around with the recipe for some time.  I just hadn't gotten around to actually doing it.   Until yesterday, that is.  Yesterday was my birthday.  That's right.  I am now the ultimate answer to the ultimate question ~ and, if you know what that means: DON'T PANIC.

Now, I know some of you are already thinking, "Oh, please don't tell me that you baked your own birthday cake."  I did.  I did because I wanted to.  You see, I am very picky about my cakes.  Because they have to be dairy-free, I usually end up making them vegan.  It's just easier.  Besides which, I happen to have a couple of really good vegan cake recipes.  The truly marvelous thing about making your own cake is that you get exactly the cake you want.  In this case, that was "Joan's Grandmother's Cake" ~ a great, old-timey (vegan) chocolate cake with a tender, moist texture ~ with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting.  I decided to test my theory and add a little flour to the mix.  The result was the very best chocolate chip cookie dough frosting I have ever made.  This is my new recipe.  I LOVE it.  In fact, just writing this has made me want to go out and have another slice.  Cake after every meal is a perfectly reasonable choice, right?

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH FROSTING

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup organic non-hydrogenated butter-flavour shortening

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup almond milk

3/4 cup flour

dash of salt

1 cup mini chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, cream shortening and sugars.

Add vanilla and almond milk and mix on low speed until blended.

Add flour and salt and mix until fluffy and blended.  Add more flour or powdered sugar if it is too thin, or more almond milk if it is too thick.  Taste, and adjust seasonings.  Gently fold in chocolate chips.  

Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.  If desired, mix in only 1/2 - 3/4 of the chocolate chips and reserve the rest to sprinkle on top.

If desired, add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans.

(I was going to post a picture of the slice of cake I had for breakfast yesterday, but, for some reason, I am not able to do so at the moment.  I will come back and post it later.)