I Tried the Giant Air Fryer Cookie the Internet Can’t Get Enough of

There are two things currently making the rounds on TikTok that I would never, ever have the nerve to scroll past. One is a giant, ooey gooey cookie, and the other is the Rasputin audio, which immediately takes me back to my glory days on Just Dance. Ah, simpler times. Anyway, I happened to come across BOTH in this video and my life is better because of it. And because I am me, I had no choice but to give this giant air fryer cookie a whirl (and also pull up the video of Rasputin from Just Dance to remind myself of this iconic choreography). 

To post a TikTok recipe video with the Rasputin audio is a bold statement — there’s a lot of pressure on the recipe to live up to the legendary song. Is the air fryer cookie as memorable as the song that I would hop around to in my basement? Time to find out.

This giant cookie takes no longer than 15 minutes total to pull together. To start, you’ll need an air fryer that has a basket shape (like this one). Then, follow these instructions:

1. Lay a sheet of tinfoil in the basket. Make sure the foil goes up the sides.
2. Press in some chocolate chip cookie dough. I used a 1-pound package of good ol’ Nestle Tollhouse, but if you wanted to use your favorite homemade chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, I fully support you. I also don’t see why you couldn’t use any kind of cookie dough you like here.
3. Bake the cookie in your air fryer at 350ºF for 10 minutes. No need to stop the machine halfway to rotate anything because the hot air circulates pretty evenly. At 10 minutes, the top of my cookie was golden brown and crispy, yet underneath, the dough was super gooey (in a good way, of course).
4. Top the cookie with ice cream. Once the cookie is out of the air fryer, the only thing left to do is top with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream and enjoy it while it’s hot.

Let’s get this out of the way: This was obviously delicious. Warm, half-baked cookies are heavenly, and when topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, you really can’t go wrong. Any person who tells you this is anything but absolutely divine is a person you don’t need in your life. The entire process was extremely quick and easy, and a great reminder that Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough is a superb alternative to homemade cookie dough. It felt like something my college roommates and I might whip up on a Friday night when we were too lazy to put on an outfit and go out (or just too hungover from the night before … ah, college).

This is, however, not a groundbreaking way to make a cookie: The fact that this is trending and being heralded as a groundbreaking method to bake a cookie tells me that we, as a society, do not understand what an air fryer is and how it works. An air fryer is essentially a countertop convection oven — both circulate hot air in a contained environment. So it shouldn’t be surprising or inventive that the air fryer can successfully bake a cookie.

Read more: How Does an Air Fryer Work?

Air fryers have also become synonymous with crisping up foods that would typically get deep-fried, essentially creating a healthier version of them. I can’t help but wonder if people are clouded by the marketing around the air fryer and are genuinely convinced the nutritional data of this cookie is different than one you’d bake in an oven. I’m not a nutritionist, but I can positively tell you it won’t.

While this air fryer method may not cut any calories, it will save you some time. One of the obvious differences between a convection oven and an air fryer is the size. Because the air fryer is smaller, it heats up faster (and many don’t require any pre-heating). I don’t know when waiting 10 minutes for your oven to preheat became the world’s greatest inconvenience, but if the thought of turning on your oven deters you from baking cookies, then this air fryer method is definitely a nice alternative.

1. Make sure you have a basket-style air fryer. If you have an air fryer that’s shaped like a toaster oven, you can still make a giant cookie in there, you’ll just need an oven safe skillet like a cast iron to nest the dough into.
2. If underbaked, ooey-gooey cookies aren’t your thing, you’ll probably want to bake this longer than 10 minutes. My giant cookie was crispy on the top yet still very underbaked underneath the golden brown exterior. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but if you’re looking for it to be fully baked, I’d let it bake at least an extra five minutes.
3. Go wild with your toppings. In the video, the cookie is topped with vanilla ice cream, but you can really have fun with how you dress it up. Hot fudge, caramel sauce, rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream, and toasted nuts would all be a welcome addition for this party of a cookie.

If you don’t have an air fryer, you could easily replicate this cookie in a foil-lined cast-iron skillet in an oven or over a grill. Yes, you’ll have to wait a few extra minutes for the oven or grill to heat up, but your results will be nearly the same. If you need to kill time while you’re waiting for things to preheat, I’d recommend brushing up on your Rasputin choreo.