Cookie Butter Has More Uses Than You Think

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If you love cookie butter, you might be looking for more ways to enjoy it beyond eating it straight from the jar. If you're new to it, then you're about to make an incredible discovery. Cookie butter is a spread with the rough consistency of conventional peanut butter that's made out of crushed spiced cookies. The two most common varieties are Trader Joe's Cookie Butter and Lotus Biscoff Spread. The latter, you can find at most large grocery stores, while the former you'll have to visit TJs to pick up.

It's designed as a spread for bread, a bit like Nutella and other chocolate spreads. However, there are far more ways to use it that a lot of people don't realize. Sure, spending a bit of alone time with a jar of cookie butter and a spoon is always great but you can get more creative than that. This yummy spread is delicious in all kinds of cakes and other baked goods. You can put it in drinks, make truffles with it, and so much more. Cookie butter has more uses than you think — and we're here to tell you about some of the best.

Stir it into coffee

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You should try stirring this delicious spread into coffee. We hear you — it might sound strange to mix a paste made from cookies into your coffee, but stick with us. Cookie butter is spiced — mostly with cinnamon — and has a rich flavor from caramelized sugar. When you add it to coffee, you're essentially making a cinnamon-spiced drink, and what's not to love about that?

Cookie butter lattes are popular, but you can also make cookie butter iced coffee and other espresso-based drinks. The first step is to brew your espresso. If you don't have an espresso machine, strong coffee from a Moka pot or Aeropress will do the trick too. While the espresso is still hot, stir in around a tablespoon of cookie butter until melted. Next, add as much steamed or frothed milk as you need for your drink of choice, whether that's a latte, flat white, or cappuccino. Alternatively, add cold milk and ice cubes for an iced latte. If you want to get fancy, drizzle over some melted cookie butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon to finish. Sip and enjoy the rich cookie goodness.

Use it as a dip for fruit

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There's no way to spin cookie butter as a healthy snack but that's okay, not everything you put in your body has to be packed with nutrients. However, you can get some extra vitamins and minerals at the same time as eating this cookie-based spread by using it as a dip for fruit.

You can dip fruit into it straight-up. This gives you the most intense cookie butter flavor. However, it's not strictly dip consistency, so you might need to spread it onto your fruit rather than dunking fruit into it. You could also choose to make a tasty cookie butter dip by mixing it with Greek yogurt and some extra cinnamon. Not only is this a more dip-able consistency, it's also a bit less sweet, which is great for those days when you're not cruising for a sugar rush.

Cookie butter or a cookie butter dip goes great with all kinds of fruits. We love it with the fresh crunch of an apple, sweet-and-tart raspberries, or tropical fruits like mango or pineapple. There are no rules, so try a range of your favorite fruits and see what you're into. It makes a tasty party snack — or you can keep it all to yourself.

Mix it into your oatmeal

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Think cookie butter isn't a good choice for breakfast? Think again. It's actually great in oatmeal, taking it to the nest level. This spiced spread adds rich flavor to your breakfast, whether you're making hot oatmeal or overnight oats.

For hot oatmeal, simply stir in a spoonful of cookie butter while your oats are still warm. The heat will help it melt and blend smoothly throughout the bowl. Start with about a tablespoon, then adjust to taste. You can also warm the cookie butter separately in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds. This makes it more fluid and perfect for drizzling over your finished bowl of oatmeal. You can use the warm, melted cookie butter to make attractive swirls so your breakfast looks as good as it tastes.

If you prefer overnight oats, stir the cookie butter in before refrigerating.It might not fully mix in, but this means that you'll be left with pockets of this delicious spiced flavor throughout your oats. In the morning, give everything a good stir and it's ready to eat.

Want to take it up a notch? Try adding sliced banana, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or a handful of chopped nuts. These toppings complement the cookie butter's sweet, caramelized cookie and cinnamon flavor. You can even add a splash of milk to adjust the consistency and get it how you like it.

Transform it into an ice cream topping

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You can use cookie butter as an ice cream topping to take your dessert up a gear. It's great with plain vanilla ice cream, but it also pairs with other flavors, like chocolate, caramel, or cookies and cream. You can choose to make a more liquid topping, akin to a caramel sauce, or make a hard shell topping like the kind you can buy from the store.

To make a topping that sets hard on your ice cream, mix a tablespoon of coconut oil (preferably refined for its neutral flavor) with half a cup of cookie butter. Put it in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds at a time until it's melted and liquidy. Mix it well to make sure the oil and spread are combined, then pour it over your ice cream. Since coconut oil is solid at an average room temperature and below, the chill of the ice cream causes the topping to harden.

Alternatively, mix cream or condensed milk with your cookie butter to make a runnier sauce for ice cream, with a texture more similar to caramel. Whichever option you choose, you can add more flavor with vanilla extract, extra cinnamon, or pumpkin spice mix. You can also add your choice of extra toppings, such as cookie crumbs or chopped toasted nuts to make your own DIY sundae.

Add it to cakes and bakes

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Cookie butter can bring its spiced flavor to all kinds of baked goods. You can mix this creamy spread into pretty much any cake or bake to make it even more delicious. It works particularly well in dense, moist treats like brownies and quick breads, but layer cakes, blondies, and even cookies can be on the menu too.

Adding crunchy cookie butter to brownie batter is among our favorite uses. The crunchy pieces add texture to the finished brownies, along with its signature flavor. Swirl it into the top of your brownies before baking for a striking pattern and pockets of spiced sweetness. Or mix it directly into the batter for consistent flavor throughout. Cinnamon works surprisingly well with chocolate, plus the spread makes the brownies even more fudgy.

Banana bread gets an upgrade with cookie butter too. Mix a few spoonfuls into your usual recipe to complement the banana's natural sweetness. The spices in cookie butter complement those found in classic banana bread. Also, in a meta twist, you can make cookies with cookie butter. Yup, you can turn cookie-flavored spread back into actual cookies. There are plenty of recipes online. Some are so simple you only need three or four more ingredients, on top of the cookie butter.

Make cookie butter hot chocolate

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As we mentioned already, the cinnamon flavors in cookie butter are delicious paired with chocolate. It adds complexity and a warm flavor that will make you think of the holiday season, and the finished drink comes out thicker and creamier thanks to the added Biscoff spread. Once you get started on cookie butter hot chocolates, you'll probably never go back to regular ones — you've been warned.

It's startlingly easy to make these drinks. Just heat milk (or your choice of non-dairy milk) in a saucepan and add a generous spoonful of cookie butter for each cup along with your choice of chocolatey ingredients. You can choose to use either cocoa powder and sugar, a hot chocolate mix, or squares of real chocolate. We'd highly recommend the real chocolate for the best, most indulgent hot chocolate. However, you can also make great drinks with cocoa powder or a quality hot chocolate mix (not an instant one).

Whisk everything together and heat until you've got a smooth, creamy hot chocolate. If you want to make it really special, top it with whipped cream, Biscoff cookie crumbs, a sprinkling of cinnamon, and a drizzle of melted cookie butter. It's a real treat that will get you through the colder months.

Turn it into truffles

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It's easy to turn cookie butter into truffles — and the results are so impressive that you won't believe how simple it is. These tasty little treats make excellent Christmas gifts or a showstopper dessert. Though, of course, you can simply make yourself a pile of them and go to town. There's no rule that says you have to share after all!

First, you have to make the cookie butter into a shapeable consistency. To do this, you beat some of the spread together with butter and powdered sugar. Some recipes also call for Biscoff or speculaas cookie crumbs. Once everything's mixed together, you should have a mixture with a thick cookie-dough-like consistency that you can hold and shape. Then, you just form the mixture into balls and dip each one into melted chocolate to coat it. You can use white, milk, dark, or even blonde chocolate. If you want to get even fancier, sprinkle some cookie crumbs onto each one while the chocolate is still setting.

Once they're chilled and the chocolate has hardened, you can tuck in. A similar alternative is to make cookie butter cups. To do so, you can follow your favorite homemade peanut butter cup recipe, using cookie butter in place of the PB.

Use it in frosting

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Cookie butter frosting is next level. It's just as easy to make as any other buttercream, but the flavor beats most of them hands down. This spiced spread easily mixes into frosting with the other ingredients, so you don't need to do anything special. It pairs well with vanilla or chocolate cake, or you could use it to make spiced sandwich cookie

Making cookie butter frosting is surprisingly simple. Start with room temperature butter and cookie butter. Beat the two together until they're fully combined with a light and fluffy texture. This usually takes about three minutes with an electric mixer. The mixture should be smooth and uniform in color.

Then, you gradually mix in powdered sugar until your frosting reaches the right sweetness and consistency. A splash of vanilla extract enhances the flavors, while a pinch of salt helps balance the sweetness. If your frosting seems too thick, add a small amount of heavy cream or milk to thin it out. The resulting frosting has a beautiful tan color and spreads easily.

For the best results, make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before starting. This helps everything blend together smoothly. Once made, this frosting can stay at room temperature for a day or two, but you should cover it to stop a crust from forming.

Mix it into a cheesecake

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Cookie butter cheesecake is a thing — and it's about as amazing as it sounds. If you're sick of basic vanilla cheesecakes, this dessert is the answer to a question you didn't even know you were asking. The bold taste of cookie butter makes it easy to inject more flavor into your dessert.

While you can make various styles of cookie butter cheesecake, the easiest is a set, no-cook version. You can achieve this by whisking cookie butter with cream cheese and heavy cream before mixing in some melted white chocolate, which helps it to set without the hassle of using gelatin or agar.

What makes a cookie butter cheesecake even more flavorful is using speculaas or Biscoff cookies in the base. This way you get those sweet spices — like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger — in both the base and the creamy portion of the cheese cake. Finish it off with a drizzle of melted cookie butter over the top of the finished dessert and you've got something packed with flavor from every angle.

Whip up cookie butter fudge

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If fudge wasn't already amazing enough, you can add in some cookie butter to take it to the next level. The spread not only has those delicious spices that bring extra flavor to fudge, but it has a caramelized flavor from the cookies that works well in this treat. The added bonus is that it's so easy to make and only requires a few ingredients. Naturally, you can eat fudge at any time of year, but it's an impressive homemade gift during the festive season and the cookie butter flavor has a Christmassy vibe.

To make an easy fudge, you only need cookie butter, sugar, butter, and unsweetened evaporated milk. You start by mixing together the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook it on a medium heat, stirring regularly until the sugar has dissolved, then bring the mixture to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat down to low and let it reach a steady simmer. Add your cookie butter and mix it in quickly to avoid it seizing. Keep simmering until it reaches a caramel consistency. At this point, you empty the mixture into a lined pan and leave it to set. It takes very little time to pull off and the results are more impressive than you'd expect for the effort it takes.

Use it as a filling for brioche, babka, or cinnamon rolls

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Cookie butter makes an incredible filling for enriched dough pastries. Its thick, spreadable consistency and warm spice flavor profile means it works perfectly in treats like brioche swirls, babka, or cinnamon rolls. The cookie butter melts slightly during baking, creating a gooey filling for your pastries.

For cinnamon rolls, spread cookie butter directly onto your rolled-out dough instead of the traditional butter and cinnamon-sugar mixture. Or combine both — a layer of cookie butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar for extra depth of flavor. The cookie butter will melt into the spirals as the rolls bake, creating an amazingly gooey center.

Babka is also amazing with a cookie butter twist. Spread it evenly over your rolled dough, then twist and fold as usual. The cookie butter stays in place better than many traditional fillings, making the dough easier to shape. During baking, it gives your loaf beautiful, defined swirls. Buttery, rich brioche dough pairs particularly well with this yummy spread. You can slather cookie butter inside individual brioche buns or create a large twisted loaf or star-shaped pastry.

For all these options, the cookie butter will melt and spread during baking, so you don't want to overdo it. Don't spread it too thickly — a thin, even layer works best. If you're finding it hard to spread without tearing the dough, warm it a little in the microwave to loosen it up.

Add it to your s'mores

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Crispy Graham crackers, melty chocolate, and pillowy marshmallows — s'mores are already pretty amazing, let's face it. But, you can make them better yet by adding some cookie butter into the mix. The sweet, cinnamon-laced spread tastes great mixed with chocolate, and it can help keep the whole messy affair stuck together too.

If you want to make cookie butter s'mores, you can make them in basically the same way that you usually do. However, when it comes to assembling them, just spread a layer of cookie butter on each cracker. It's that simple. While s'mores are traditionally a campfire treat, you don't have to make them this way. The simplest option for s'mores is to melt the chocolate and marshmallows on Graham crackers in the microwave to get them gooey. You won't get that smoky flavor, but it's a great option for everyday.

If you want the cookie butter flavor to come to the forefront, you can go without the chocolate and just layer cookie butter, Graham crackers, and marshmallows. Or, keep the chocolate but use speculaas or Biscoff cookies instead of the crackers. This way, the spiced notes will be prominent.

Whisk it into chocolate mousse

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Light, airy chocolate mousse gets a makeover with help from cookie butter. This adds some deliciously rich spiced notes to the dessert, making it more complex but still chocolate-forward. If you're bored of basic chocolate mousse, it's a great way to change things up without having to learn a whole new recipe.

While you can find plenty of cookie butter chocolate mousse recipes online, it's easy to adapt a favorite recipe if you already have one. Just add a tablespoon or two of the spiced spread to the chocolate as you melt it and keep the rest of the recipe the same. It might come out a little bit more dense, but the results will be similar.

You can make things even more elaborate by crafting a layered mousse. Put a layer of Biscoff or speculaas cookie crumbs in the base of a glass, add the mousse, and then top it off with a layer of melted cookie spread. Just make sure the spread is almost back to room temperature but still pourable when you layer it on top so that it doesn't melt the mousse.