5-Minute Cookie Butter Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is a substitute for cookie butter? ›

A few substitutes for cookie butter include peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, tahini or cashew butter. To approximate the sweetness of cookie butter, you can experiment with mixing your preferred nut butter with honey and ground warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and/or ginger.

Cookie butter is typically made using Belgian-style speculoos cookies, like Biscoff. The thin and crispy caramelized biscuits are flavored with brown sugar and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, or cardamom.

Cookie butter is made from grinding Biscoff cookies down with butter, cream, etc until it is a smooth paste. (I actually have a recipe for homemade cookie butter if you're interested!) Cookie dough is the batter that is used to bake cookies from.

It's true that Biscoff's and TJ's versions are not identical. TJ's spread, which topped the store's 2012 list of most popular products, has a slightly granular texture and more of a gingerbread flavor, while the Biscoff spread has a sweeter, richer taste.

The best butter for your baked goods depends on what type of recipe you're whipping up. Unsalted, American-style butter works well in goods like cookies, pound cakes and pancakes that require the high-fat content of conventional butter and more flexibility with salt and flavor content.

With cookie butter, discoloration can indicate that it's spoiling. So, if your cookie butter becomes darker or develops an off smell, those are signs that it has started to go bad. Also, if the texture becomes excessively hard or dry, despite proper storage, it might be time to toss it out.

You can store and serve homemade cookie butter at room temperature for much of the year, but you'll need to take some precautions when your kitchen gets especially hot or cold. In warmer months, you may need to keep it in the fridge, then allow the cookie butter to soften at room temperature prior to use.

Two people presented a competing recipe to make a spreadable product out of Speculoos cookies: chef Danny De Maeyer who already filed a patent at that time, and Els Scheppers. Lotus, the biggest brand of Speculoos (known as Biscoff in the US) cookies, bought her idea and brought it to market.

But before we ever snagged a jar off grocery shelves in the U.S., it was better known as speculoos spread and made from traditional European holiday cookies. So, how did cookie butter emerge from relative obscurity and become something we eat by the spoonful nightly on our couches?

What is in speculoos cookie butter? ›

To make the cookie butter, combine cookies, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and butter in a food processor. Blend until peanut butter texture forms.

cookie butter was discontinued. It was one of my. favorites.

Speculoos is a spiced shortbread cookie that originated in Belgium. Today, speculoos cookies are popular all across Europe and often served during holidays and special occasions. They're often made in fun shapes such as windmills.

You can use salted butter instead of unsalted butter if that's all you've got — especially if you're making something simple like cookies where the chemistry of adding salt in a specific amount and at a certain time won't have a meaningful impact on the outcome (as it would with yeasted bread).

What about substituting oil for butter? Depending on the type of oil, it can add complex flavor and welcome moisture to your baked goods. A good rule of thumb is to replace about 3/4 of the butter in a recipe with olive, canola, or vegetable oil. (If the recipe calls for 1 cup butter, use ¾ cup oil.)

Dry Texture: Butter is a source of moisture in cookie dough. Without enough butter, the dough can become dry and crumbly. This can make it difficult to form the dough into cohesive balls or drop it onto baking sheets, and it can result in cookies that are overly dry and lacking in tenderness.