Biggering a Cookie

John and Max ran about in the forest seeing what they could do that day. Both children were homeschooled and were done for the day. Both of their parents hadn't bought any kind of digital device for them to play with or use. Only Max's father had a computer and that was for his work. John had two other siblings while Max was awaiting a new baby sister. John's older sister, Mary, had been trying to increase the size of her pastries. John's mom had been teaching her how to bake bigger pastries and it had been going very well.

John and Max sat under their oak tree and thought up ideas to do for the day. The oak's leaves swayed in the autumn breeze and waited for them to climb on again, as they usually would do. John then remembered his sister's attempts to make very large cookies and sat up.

"We could try making big cookies!" said John

"But we don't know how to bake. We would have to ask our moms for help or your sister," said Max

"But we can try! It could be a surprise for them! I big giant cookie cake for everyone to enjoy!" said John

"I don't think you can make a cookie cake," said Max

"Oh yeah? What about you? Can you make a cookie Cake?" asked John

"Hmm, yeah! One that's even better than what you could make!" said Max

"then let's see who can make the better cookie cake! The winner gets to choose what the loser does." John smiled

"Oh you're on!" said Max, now standing up and running towards his house.

Both John and Max's parents were out at the time getting groceries or were at work, so nobody was supervising the house. John's younger brother, Keven, watched as his older brother got out the recipe book their mom used when baking. John had watched his sister bake many times as well as his mom, so he had some ground on what to do. He looked at the recipe for cookie cake in the book and looked around for the correct ingredients. 

"What are you doing?" asked Keven, watching John grab the flour

"Making a cookie cake," said John "Max and I are having a competition on who can make the better cookie cake,"

"Wouldn't mom get mad if she found out you were baking without adult supervision?" asked Keven "Even Mary still needs it and she's a teenager."

Mary was 15, John was 8, and Keven was 7.

"Nah, I'm sure she'll understand after I'm done. I've watched Mary do it plenty of times, I'm sure I can do it without help," said John

"ok, just don't burn the house down." and Keven walked off to play on the swing set in the nearby backyard.

while John was trying to bake in his house following a cookbook, Max looked around and found some recipe cards his mom used when she baked. There was a recipe for some cookies and another one for a cake. He read the recipe for the cookie and decided to bake it similarly to brownies. He found each of the ingredients and put them together as the recipe said. After he was done putting everything together he found his mother's baking sheet and sprayed it with the non-stick butter spray in the drawers. He put the dough on thin and put the unbaked dessert in the oven. The heat of the oven blasted at his face as he put it in. He then set up the timer and went off to see how John was doing.

John was putting the cookie cake into the oven by the time Max came over to check upon him. John put the timer on for 8 minutes and then began to make the frosting. Butter Cream frosting was easy to make and he was working on that.

"How far are you?" asked Max from the window

"Making the frosting," said John

"Wait, we needed to make frosting?" asked Max

"Not required, but it's in my recipe so that is what I'm doing," said John, looking at the timer

"What are you two boys doing now?" asked Mary coming from upstairs. "erm, what is this mess? John?"

"baking a cookie cake!" said John, smiling

"Why didn't you tell me you were doing some baking?" asked Mary. she shook her head "where are you in the recipe?"

"The cookie cake is baking and I'm making frosting," said John

"Alright. Make sure to not take your eyes off of the cake for too long. Don't want that to burn," Mary then walked into the living room

"You should be going back. You also need to watch your cookie," said John to Max

"I should," Max then left to go back to his house

His cookie wasn't burning, but the timer had gone off by the time Max returned. He put on some oven mitts and took the cookie out. It was very big so he put it outside to cool. That way he could have a bite of his giant cookie. He got bored of waiting for the cookie to cool down so he looked around for any frosting recipes. He found a maple frosting recipe in the list of different recipes his mom had. Then he heard the door open. 

"Max! I'm home!" it was his mom

"Hi mom!" yelled Max, waving his hand

"What is this?" asked Max's mom, looking at the mess Max had made

"I was trying to make a giant cookie!" said Max "It's right there!"

"Oh? Did John's older sister help you?" his mom asked

"Nope! I did it all by myself!" Max looked proud of himself

"You didn't even burn the cookie! That is impressive!" his mom said, "Mind if I take a bite?"

"Nope!"

Max's mom snapped a small part off of the cookie and ate it.

"It's good, but please clean up this mess. there's flour everywhere!" his mother laughed

Back over at John's house, his parents both arrived with the groceries.

"John! Mary! Keven!" called his dad "Come over here and help with the groceries!"

Keven got off the swing set, Mary got up from the couch, and John ran from the kitchen to help. There was plenty of groceries to put away and they walked up towards the kitchen and found the cookie cake, cooling down.

"Who made this?" asked John's mom

"John started it without my knowledge, but he was able to bake most of it on his own," said Mary "He did the rest with me watching him from the couch."

"Oh, well at least he didn't burn down the house." said John's mom "But John, please tell me before you do something like this, and don't do it without me at least in the house."

"Ok mom," said John "But I did well, right?"

"It doesn't look burnt, so that's a plus. However, I don't see frosting on this cake," said John's mom

"It's still cooling off. The frosting is ready to be used though," said John, pointing to a bowl

"Oh! Alright then. Hmm, there doesn't seem to be a mess," said John's mom

"Because I cleaned up before you showed up!" John smiled at this accomplishment

"Well, that's good. Now let's finish putting away groceries," said John's mom

After they were done putting things away, John and Max met up again at their oak tree and sat down.

"My parents said my cookie cake was great!" said John

"Mom liked that I didn't burn the house down." joked Max

"Funny, my mom said that too," said John

"So, who had the better giant cookie, cake, thing?" asked Max

"I don't know, but we might as well call it a tie. I don't think our moms are going to let us use the ovens again in a good bit," joked John

"agreed"