Bready or Not: Cookie Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
I like to say that cookie butter makes everything better. I would also add that rainbow sprinkles make everything better. These cookies feature both cookie butter AND rainbow sprinkles, and will absolutely blow your mind.
The recap, as there is always someone discovering cookie butter for the first time: it’s an addictive substance found near the peanut butter in most every grocery store in America; even my local Walmart has it in the main Biscoff brand or as a Walmart generic, and Trader Joe’s calls it Speculoos. It’s essentially pulverized cookies and oil. It has the exact same texture as peanut butter and can substitute for it in most any recipe. There is nothing healthy about it and it is incredibly delicious.
Cookie butter makes things taste like cookie dough. That’s outright magical when paired with chocolate. These cookies are especially pretty as they include white and brown chips along with the sprinkles.
Customize the sprinkles based on the season or reason. Red and green for Christmas, pink and/or red and/or white for Valentine’s, favorite sports team colors, whatever. Of course, basic rainbow sprinkles are always a great choice!
Modified from Food Network Magazine December 2022.
Bready or Not: Cookie Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- large cookie scoop
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup smooth cookie butter such as Biscoff or Speculoos
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
- 3 Tablespoons sprinkles plus more for topping
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, cookie butter, and both sugars until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla.
- Gradually stir in the dry ingredients to form a cohesive dough. Fold in both kinds of chips along with the sprinkles. Cover the dough and chill in the fridge at least 2 hours, or up to a few days.
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour some sprinkles into a bowl.
- Use a scoop or spoon to shape the dough. Dip the top into the sprinkles and compress to coat. Place spaced out a few inches on sheet–they will spread!
- Bake 11 to 12 minutes, until set and golden. Let them cool for about 5 minutes on the sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Store them in a sealed container at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Chewy Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies Redux
These Chewy Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies taste even more inherently cookie dough-like thanks to cookie butter mixed into the dough. They are chewy, sweet, and oh-so-good.
Because someone always asks, “What’s cookie butter?” The answer is: an addictive substance found near the peanut butter in most every grocery store in America; even my local Walmart has it in the main Biscoff brand or as a Walmart generic, and Trader Joe’s calls it Speculoos. It’s essentially pulverized cookies and oil. It has the exact same texture as peanut butter and can substitute for it in most any recipe. There is nothing healthy about it and it is incredibly delicious.
If you search for Biscoff/cookie butter recipes on Bready or Not, you’ll find a ton of recipes. It’s been one of my favorite ingredients for over ten years.
That’s how old this recipe is, too–so old that I originally posed it on the LiveJournal version of Bready or Not! It was high time it had a remake (or rebake).
Bready or Not: Chewy Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies Redux
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup Creamy Biscoff spread or other cookie butter
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- flaked sea salt optional, for top
Instructions
- Cream butter with both sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and cookie butter.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Wrap up dough and chill it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
- Drop the dough by large tablespoons onto baking sheet. If desired, press a pinch of flaked sea salt onto each round. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let set on pan briefly and then transfer to a cooling rack. Store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Swirled Cookie Butter Brownie Bars
These Swirled Cookie Butter Brownie Bars are thick and luscious with just the right balance of chocolate and cookie dough flavors.
If you’re one of those people who had just to discover the joys of cookie butter–you’re in for a treat! Think cookies blended with oil to create a spreadable mass just like peanut butter. There is nothing healthy about it, but it tastes like cookie dough. You can find it at Trader Joe’s as Speculoos and at other stores as Biscoff or as a generic.
Cookie butter can pretty much replace peanut butter in any recipe, or even on something as simple as a sandwich. Here, it’s great swirled in with brownie batter. Chocolate and cookie dough, ever the perfect combination.
Since the swirl-in includes cream cheese, be sure to refrigerate these after they’ve baked and cooled. They are divine straight from the fridge!
Bready or Not Original: Swirled Cookie Butter Brownie Bars
Equipment
- 13×9 pan
- aluminum foil
- nonstick spray
- uneven spatula
- cutting board
Ingredients
Brownie base
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup baking cocoa sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Cookie butter swirl-in
- 2 boxes cream cheese (8 ounces each) softened
- 1/2 cup creamy cookie butter
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13×9 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a big bowl, beat together eggs, butter, and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the brownie dry ingredients and gradually add them to the egg mix. Fold in the chocolate chips. Set aside 1 cup of the brownie batter for the topping. Scoop the rest into the prepared pan and use an uneven spatula to even it out.
- In another bowl, beat together the cream cheese blocks, cookie butter, and sugar. Once that is blended, add the egg and milk. Use an uneven spatula to spread the mixture in a thin layer across the top of the brownie batter in the pan. Dollop the reserved brownie batter on top. Use the tip of the uneven spatula or a butter knife to create swirls.
- Bake pan for 35 to 40 minutes, until the very middle passes the toothpick test. Cool on a wire rack for an hour, then place in fridge to completely chill. Use the foil to lift the contents onto a cutting board. Slice up and store in a sealed container in the fridge. Keeps for at least 3 days.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter and Jelly Bars (Big Pan)
This big casserole dish of Cookie Butter and Jelly Bars is chewy and sweet, perfect to feed a crowd! Customize it by using your favorite jelly.
I love cookie butter. You can find it in jars near the nut butters in a lot of grocery stores. There’s nothing healthy about it–it’s spice cookies pulverized with oil to make a smearable paste that you can use however you use peanut butter, such as on sandwiches or in baked goods like this.
Cookie butter makes everything taste inherently more cookie-like. It’s fantastic with jelly! I recommend using about 10-12 ounces of jelly here; less than that and the layer is thin, more than that, it can gush at the sides of the pan and stick to the foil.
These bars are best eaten within two days. After that, they will dry out a bit but they are still tasty.
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter and Jelly Bars (Big Pan)
Equipment
- 13×9 pan
- aluminum foil
- nonstick spray
- offset spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups creamy cookie butter such as Biscoff and Trader Joe's Speculoos
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 10-12 ounces jelly or jam or preserves
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13×9 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and cookie butter. Follow up with the flour and baking powder.
- Spread about 2/3 of the dough in the prepared pan. Using an offset spatula, spread the jam in an even layer up to about 1/2 inch of the edge. Dollop the remaining dough all over the top. Use a knife to gently form into swirls with the jelly.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the edges start to brown and the middle is set and passes the toothpick test. Let cool completely on wire rack. Use foil to lift contents onto a cutting board to slice into bars. Store in a sealed container at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter Shortbread
The Cookie Butter Shortbread is a new riff on my classic Shortbread recipe that I’ve also made with espresso powder and chocolate chips–and also with an infusion of lemon and a glaze. It’s a versatile base recipe.
Now, I bet some of you are asking–what is cookie butter? It’s essentially pureed spice cookies with oil, forming a spreadable consistency just like peanut butter. You can find it in stores by the nut butter; Trader Joe’s carries it under the name Speculoos. What cookie butter does is make cookies taste more… cookie. You’ll know what I mean when you try it.
This is not a crisp shortbread like the traditional Walker’s brand (which is delicious in its own right). No, this shortbread is cakey and soft, only crisp at the very edge.
Sometimes the first piece out of the pan can even be fussy and break in half; a metal pie spatula helps, but sometimes it can still happen. That’s no major problem, though, because of every bite of Shortbread is good, even if it’s not perfectly photogenic.
Enjoy this Cookie Butter Shortbread for breakfast or snacks, or in proper fashion at tea time.
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter Shortbread
Equipment
- 2 pie plates
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup creamy cookie butter
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Apply nonstick spray to both pie plates.
- Stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and cookie butter. Use hands to compress dough together. Add the chocolate chips and mix, bringing dough together again to form a ball. Divide in half, placing one in each pie plate. Flatten dough with palms to create an even surface. Prick surface all over with a fork then use a knife to slash dough into triangular wedges.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middle is set. Remove from oven and cut again along slash marks. Let shortbread cool completely, then cut again along existing marks.
- Shortbread keeps for several days at room temperature. It can be stored covered in pie plates, or stacked in a sealed container with wax paper between the layers.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Braided Cocoa and Cookie Butter Brioche
This Braided Cocoa and Cookie Butter Brioche is stunning in appearance and taste, so be warned: there are more pictures than usual for this post, including some process photos.
When I set out to rewrite the original recipe, featured in the January/February 2019 issue of Bake from Scratch, I knew this bread would be time-consuming. Intimidating, even.
The braiding process, shown here, had me worried to start, but that turned out to not be so bad after all.
What ended up being the most tedious aspect was all the necessary dishwashing between the various stages! This recipe would be a great time to have some helpful assistants around.
The original recipe used special black cocoa paired with peanut butter. I went with normal baking cocoa (Penzey’s), which is less dramatic in color but great with flavor, and my stalwart baking favorite, cookie butter.
Despite my evangelizing, some people are always meeting cookie butter for the first time. It’s found in jars near the nut butters in stores. Trader Joe’s carries it under the name Speculoos. The other major brand is Biscoff. It tastes like spice cookies pureed in oil, because that’s exactly what it is.
It’s also incredible to bake with because it can even make cookies taste inherently more cookie-like. Here, when it’s used with chocolate, cocoa, and fresh bread, it’s truly amazing.
During baking, I found the exposed swirls of cookie butter actually caramelized, creating a wonderful crunch in the same bite as tender enriched bread. That, along with chocolate?
Oh wow. Oh wow.
Bready or Not: Braided Cocoa and Cookie Butter Brioche
Equipment
- stand mixer
- food scale
- Rolling Pin
- uneven spatula
- bench knife
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm milk (105-110-degrees F)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) melted
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, divided
- 4 1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus more if needed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup plus 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar divided
- 2/3 cup creamy cookie butter
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate melted
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder sifted
- 1 large egg white
- 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, stir together warm milk and yeast, letting it stand about 5 minutes to get foamy.
- Mix in the eggs, 1 stick melted butter, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Follow up with the flour, sugar, and salt, beating until combined. Switch to the dough hook and beat for about 4 minutes, until smooth.
- Use nonstick spray on a large bowl. Lightly flour a flat surface and turn out the dough to form it into a round. Place it in a bowl, rotating it to grease the entire surface. Cover and let rise for about 1 hour, until it doubles in size.
- Clean everything and return to the stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar with the cookie butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 3 Tablespoons melted butter, until smooth. Transfer the mixture to another bowl. set aside.
- Clean the mixer and paddle attachment again. Beat the final stick of softened butter, the melted chocolate, cocoa, remaining 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, and last 1 teaspoon vanilla, until smooth. Set aside.
- Lightly flour a flat surface again. Punch down the dough and turn it onto the surface. Use a food scale to divide the dough in half. Stash one half back in the bowl for now, covered to prevent drying. Roll the other half into a 20 by 9 rectangle. Use an uneven spatula to spread the cookie butter filling onto the dough, up to 1/2-inch of the edges all the way around. Starting on a long side, tightly roll up the dough, pinching the seam to seal. Set aside with the seam faced down.
- Roll out the other dough in the same way, this time spreading on the chocolate-cocoa filling. Roll it up as well, placing the two dough rolls side by side. Use a bench knife to cut each roll in half, lengthwise. With the multi-layered middles facing up, twine the strips together.
- Apply nonstick spray on tube pan. Lift braid into the pan and tug it to form a complete circle, tucking the ends beneath. Cover the bread and let it rise in a warm spot until it’s puffed, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven 350-degrees.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and water. Brush the top of the dough, touching the cookie butter strands first, then the chocolate; this will prevent the chocolate from smearing too much.
- Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, covering the bread with foil halfway through to prevent too much browning. When done, the top should be golden and an instant-read thermometer should be above 190-degrees.
- Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Turn out onto a plate, then tip it back onto a rack to completely cool, top-up.
- The bread is best eaten within a day, but it can also be sliced up and frozen in pieces. It'll thaw later and taste beautifully fresh! Eat at room temperature or slightly warmed.
OM NOM NOM!
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