Chocolate chip cookie icebox cake (with homemade cookies)

I may very well have defeated the purpose of an icebox cake by making the cookies myself.  After all, the appeal of the icebox cake is its simplicity and the fact that it requires no baking.  Well, what can I say...baking is what we do here.

My 6-inch icebox cake: Five individual layers of chocolate chip cookies and cocoa whipped cream-mascarpone filling

This is my first icebox cake.  It's the first time I'm making and eating one.  This 6-inch icebox cake of mine is a bit of a mashup between Ina Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake and Martha Stewart's chocolate chip icebox cake.  A few years ago, a friend told me how good Ina's recipe was and ever since then, I've thought about trying it.  Ina uses Tate's chocolate chip cookies - those shatteringly crisp cookies are terrific (my son is a big fan) but I had a hankering to make my own and that's where Martha comes in.  

Homemade chocolate chip cookies - thin and baked until crisp, ideal for icebox cakes

I rarely make thin and crisp chocolate chip cookies (thin and chewy ones, yes) but this was a nice experiment.  I found the crispiness a nice change.  And the handy thing about it is you can simply bake the cookies a couple of minutes less and end up with a softer, chewy cookie instead.  For the icebox cake, you do want to make sure and use crispy cookies since it will do its thing and soften with the layers of cream in between it.  

For the creamy filling, I decided to go with cocoa-flavored whipped cream instead of mocha and I tweaked Ina's recipe by using a little less mascarpone cheese, reducing the amount of sugar, and skipping the liqueur.  Since the little guy would be digging into this cake with us, I omitted the liqueur but I think it would be a safe bet to say that it'd be delicious with it. 

I divided the recipes I used in half to make my scaled-down version.  Unless you're feeding a crowd, it may be wise because we're talking layers of chocolate chip cookies, with a rich (though deceptively light-tasting) whipped cream and mascarpone filling.  I find this is the kind of cake that you put on a plate and you polish off whatever's on that plate, so a small slice may be the way to go when it comes to enjoying this.

Most icebox cakes are freeform and I like that casual simplicity but I think I prefer Ina's way of making it in a cake pan.  You need a springform pan, or as in my case, a 6-inch cheesecake pan (one with a removable bottom).  I think it makes for a neat presentation.  Plus, it's super easy and convenient to assemble that way.

I think my first icebox cake gets a thumb's up.  Like I said, once you take a bite, it's hard to stop eating.  Funny thing...when my son tasted this, he told me "mmm, it's really good!  I thought I would hate it, but it's really good!"  That gave me a good laugh!  I think the sound of "cheese" (i.e., mascarpone cheese) threw him off a bit but the taste won him over.  I always know something is good when he asks me how much of it is left...needless to say, he wanted dibs on the last piece though he was willing to share.