This Is the Most Joyful Dessert—Make It on Repeat for the Holidays

In my first apartment in Crown Heights, I used it to bake ube crinkle cookies for my roommates and me. I wanted to make a version of the moist, powdered sugar–topped ube crinkle cookies from Kape Republik, a Filipino coffee shop and bakery in Cerritos, California. My family in Southern California shared some with me back in 2016, and I was itching to have a taste of them on the East Coast.

For this recipe, I also wanted to re-create the Pizookie from BJ's, one of my favorite comfort chain restaurants. There are BJ's locations nationwide, and the closest one to me in Stockton was on Pacific Avenue. After tennis practice in high school, my friend and teammate Chelsea would drive us to BJ's just for dessert. Without fail, we would get the signature Pizookie, usually the chocolate chip flavor with vanilla ice cream. My eyes would pop out of my skull every time I saw the giant cookies served in hot cast iron skillets and topped with scoops of melty ice cream.

Baked ube crinkle dough makes for an ideal skillet cookie with its chewy center and crisp edges. I also like doubling up on the ube flavor by piling ube ice cream on top of the cookie.

I prefer the store-bought ube halaya for this recipe in particular to achieve a chewy crinkle cookie.