Cookie cake jammed full of treats...and strawberry fields

Summer time means birthdays in our family. Birthdays where cake is out and other options are in--because even though I make cakes on the side for others, I'm not a huge cake fan myself, along with most people in our family. So when a birthday comes up, we have to get creative. So how do you make a dessert that resembles a cake, but isn't a cake??

Well, you create a cookie cake--with all of your favourite things jammed inside, oozing out with chocolate and peanut butter goodness.

Because if you cut up your favourite treats and jam them inside cookie batter placed in a pie pan...

you get the most delicious cookie cake imaginable. It's soft, chewy, warm and oozes chocolate and melted peanut butter with every slice. And bonus? You can put candles on top, vanilla ice cream on the side, and you've got yourself the most delicious cookie cake that you've ever tasted.

I found a lot of different options for cookie cakes online, but the recipe that I went with is HERE if you want to try it for yourself.

I promise you, you won't be disappointed. I tried not to eat the whole thing.

Then when your belly is full of cookie goodness, there's nothing better to do than fill it up with even more summer goodness--hand picked strawberries, fresh from the field.

Because really, there isn't anything better than the taste of strawberries that you picked yourself.

So we grabbed our buckets, packed up the van full of kids and hoodies on that cool July morning and willed the day to be better than the chaos of last year's strawberry picking experience. *Read last years strawberry picking experience if you want to feel better about bringing your little kids anywhere fun. Seriously.

This year though, it was a world of difference. It was calm, lovely, fun and just chilly enough to keep us feeling cozy in our hoodies and blankets wrapped around baby.

And we learned very quickly that the absolute best part of the whole strawberry picking experience was the golf cart rides back and forth to the parking lot. 

It apparently doesn't get better than that...according to little people. 

Have a great rest of your week everyone.

And don't eat that whole cookie cake in one sitting--you might just put yourself into a chocolate/peanut butter coma. Just a warning from someone whose been there. A few too many times.

Erica xo