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https://fuckingdelicious.co/recipes/trader-joes-cookie-butter-cookies
Cookies
Trader Joe's Cookie Butter Cookies
If you've ever stood in your kitchen at midnight eating Trader Joe's (TJ's) Cookie Butter straight from the jar with a spoon and thought 'what if this was a cookie,' first of all, we're the same person. Second of all, I made it happen. These are cookies where Cookie Butter IS the star, not just a mix-in or a drizzle or a cute little afterthought. Half a cup of Speculoos Cookie Butter goes directly into the dough, which means every single cookie tastes like those little Belgian spice cookies that come on the plane that you hide in your bag and eat later when nobody's looking. The cookie butter replaces some of the butter in a traditional cookie recipe, which means these have a softer, chewier texture and this warm cinnamon-ginger-nutmeg thing happening that you can't quite put your finger on. They spread perfectly, they develop these caramelly, lightly crispy edges while staying thick and soft in the center, and they smell so good baking that your neighbors might knock on your door and you'll have to either share or pretend you're not home. I would pretend I'm not home. These are the cookies you bring to a party when you want people to stop mid-conversation and ask 'wait, what IS this?' It's Cookie Butter, Brenda. It's always been Cookie Butter, you stupid fucking bitch i hate you. Now let that boy cook.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter (creamy, not crunchy)
- 1/4 cup (half stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- Flaky sea salt for topping (optional but do it)
Instructions
- 1
Cream the butters
In a large bowl, beat the cookie butter, softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes with a hand mixer or just a lot of aggressive stirring with a wooden spoon. The cookie butter should be completely incorporated, not streaky. This is your cookie foundation and it should taste like you could eat it raw. Because you can. And you will.
- 2
Add egg and vanilla
Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. The dough will look a little loose and shiny. That's the egg doing its thing. Don't worry about it.
- 3
Add the dry ingredients
In a separate bowl or directly on top (I won't tell anyone), add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until just combined. The dough should be thick, smooth, and smell like a European bakery that you can't afford to actually visit. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This isn't optional. Cold dough spreads less, bakes thicker, and develops better flavor. Go do something productive with your hour. Or don't. I'm not your life coach.
- 4
Scoop and bake
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough into 1.5 tablespoon-sized balls and place them 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt. Bake for 9-11 minutes until the edges are set and lightly golden but the centers still look slightly underdone and puffy. They'll firm up as they cool. If they look done in the oven, they're overdone on your plate. Pull them early. Trust the process.
- 5
Cool and try not to eat them all
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. They'll be soft and fragile when they first come out but they set up perfectly as they cool. The edges get caramelly and slightly crisp, the centers stay thick and chewy, and the cookie butter flavor intensifies as they cool. Eat three. Feel nothing. Eat a fourth. Feel alive.
Baker's Notes
- Refrigerating the dough is NON-NEGOTIABLE. Warm cookie butter dough spreads like a pancake in the oven. Cold dough holds its shape, bakes thicker, and has a better texture. An hour minimum. Overnight is even better if you can handle the emotional toll of waiting.
- Use a cookie scoop for uniform sizes. Consistent size means consistent baking time means no burnt edges and raw centers situation. A 1.5 tablespoon scoop is perfect.
- Flaky sea salt on top. Please. The salt against the sweet, warm spice of the cookie butter is chef's kiss territory. Maldon flaky sea salt is the gold standard but any flaky salt works. Do not use table salt. Table salt is for boiling pasta water, not topping cookies.
- These freeze beautifully as dough balls. Scoop them onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, freeze solid, then transfer to a zip bag. Bake from frozen, adding 1-2 extra minutes. Having frozen cookie dough ready to go is the kind of emergency preparedness that actually matters.
- For a truly unhinged move, sandwich two cookies around a scoop of TJ's Cookie Butter Ice Cream. Cookie butter cookies with cookie butter ice cream. It's recursive. It's beautiful. It's probably too much. Do it anyway.
Nutrition
Calories
120
Fat
5g
Carbs
17g
Protein
2g
Sugar
9g
Serving
1 cookie
Notes
FAQ
What does cookie butter taste like?
Can I use crunchy cookie butter?
My cookies spread too flat. What happened?
How long do these last?
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