Skillet chocolate chip cookie with Mexican flair

The layer of whipped cream should be as high as old school Dallas hair....

I made this for a game night Tom and I had with a few friends a few months back.  I had warned the wife of said couple that Tom is a no-holds-barred kind of competitive.  All the same, my jaw went slack when the word "rune" came up during a casual game of bananagrams.  PJ cast Tom the casual query, "what's a rune?"

And that's when I winced, because I foresaw the future.

"You don't know what a RUNE is?" my husband asked disbelievingly.

"Uh, no...."

"Like, in TOLKIEN????"

At this point, I started making bubble cheeks of "uuuuuurrrrggggh" at my friend across the table as our husbands sorted out this rune business.  In Tom's mind, everyone should know what a rune is, or at least that it is.  Let's not even THINK about the people to whom Tolkien's writings are unfamiliar.  Apparently, PJ often does this with medical jargon, so it was only a just dose of his own medicine (no pun intended), and Amanda was getting a kick out of the exchange.  Apparently we have found our kind of people.

In addition to being generally well-matched couples regarding games, we also all appreciate desserts made in cast iron skillets.  I heart my cast iron.  And it gave a mighty crust to a mighty cookie cake.  While this recipe was based on Martha Stewart's recipe, I amped it up a bit by adding 2 T cinnamon and 1 tsp cayenne for more Mexican chocolate flair as well as pumping up the vanilla a little.  The darker color comes from the fact I used dark brown sugar, not light.  I will definitely make this again.  The whipped cream is at your discretion, but I thought it added a nice touch.

If you want the original recipe, it is available here.

2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne
2 T cinnamon
3/4 c butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Sift/whisk together dry ingredients. Cream together butter and sugars.  Add egg and vanilla to butter/sugar.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into a 10" cast iron skillet (of course!) and pop in the oven for 40-45 minutes.