Chocolate ‘Cookie Butter’ Cookies

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Has Speculoos (aka Cookie Butter) replaced Nutella as college students’ preferred creamy spread? Does everybody even know what Speculoos is? Think of it as a gingersnappy peanut butter. It’s Belgian by birth, a spread made of crushed Speculoos cookies that are reminiscent of a White Christmas filled with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and cardamom.

Trader Joe’s sells Cookie Butter, which is a very delightful homage to the original Speculoos spread. Oh yeah, it’s also known as Biscoff Spread. You can get the Lotus brand Biscoff Spread at Cost Plus World Market.

Cookie Butter = Speculoos Spread = Biscoff Spread 

I wanted to make chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies (you know… chocolate cookies with a peanut butter filling?), but I had a jar of this Biscoff Spread so I said… Let’s try to make Cookie Butter filled chocolate cookies. What do you know? It turned out pretty well! Not sure if this will replace chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies for me, but at least I know it works.

Click here for the recipe for “Chocolate ‘Cookie Butter’ Cookies”

Now check it out, I need you to buy….

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…Some Speculoos spread(aka Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter or Lotus brand Biscoff Spread), and, of course, some brown sugar, eggs, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, vanilla, butter, flour, salt, and baking soda. You all have those ingredients lying around, right? If you don’t, please refer to my list of ‘Staple Foods’.

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Now add some flour into a large bowl.

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Add the cocoa powder and baking soda. Don’t forget the salt. It makes sweet foods taste better.

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Whisk, whisk, whisk.

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In a separate bowl, add softened butter. A whole stick of it.

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Add the Speculoos spread and brown sugar.

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And mix very throughout until combined well. Use a hand mixer if you got one. I’m using a fork because I couldn’t find the hand mixer.

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Crack in an egg. Just one.

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Now beat it with a whisk until nice and creamy. Looks good enough to eat.

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Now mix the butter mixture into the dry ingredients.

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Use a wooden spoon to combine the two.

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You should get something like this.

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In a separate bowl now, combine some more Speculoos spread and powdered sugar.

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Combine until it looks like this. This is your filling.

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To form the cookies, grab a tablespoon measuring spoon. Measure out 1 sorta heaping tablespoon of cookie dough. Then flatten it out into a disc.

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Grab a teaspoon measuring spoon and measure out 1 teaspoon of the filling mixture and place on disc of chocolate dough.

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Envelop the filling with the cookie dough and roll it into a ball.

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Now place balls of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a glass cup, flatten the cookies…

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…until they are about 1/3 of an inch thick. Then bake ’em all good, and wait for them.

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Allow to cool for just a little bit.. Serve immediately with a glass of cold milk.

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Chocolate Cookie Butter Surprise Cookies

Total time: 37 minutes
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 7-9 min
Yield: 2-3 dozens
Level: Easy

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup cookie butter/speculoos/biscoff spread (smooth or crunchy), divided
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and 1/4 cup of speculoos until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat with whisk until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add all of butter mix to the dry ingredients and combine with wooden spoon until cookie dough is formed. Set aside.

In a small bowl, cream together powdered sugar and the remaining 3/4 cup of speculoos with a fork or spoon until combined.

To form the cookies, take a heaping tablespoon full of cookie dough and form a flat disc. Take a teaspoon of the speculoos mixture and place it in the center of the disc. Form the dough into a ball around the speculoos, then place on the cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a glass cup, gently press the ball down to slightly flatten (the edges of cookie will crack a little). Bake for 7-9 minutes and remove from oven. Cookies will still feel very soft to the touch and will continue cooking outside of oven. Cool cookies on baking pan for at least 5-7 minutes before serving.

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