Once in a while I pick up something from a store, and my life changes. When I was 8, that something was Nutella. Last year, that something was cookie butter. I think I was late to this band wagon. I mentioned this amazing discovery to one of my good friends while home on break, and she was so surprised I had never had Speculoos cookie butter. The one thing her sister asked to be sent to her while at school at the Air Force Academy was cookie butter.
If you have never had cookie butter, I’m sure you can imagine how incredible it is. Picture your favorite cookie in spreadable form. Like crazy good. This particular recipe uses sweetened condensed milk. Gasp! But calm down; it is an excellent ingredient in moderation. No need to have flashbacks to the home cooking from the 1950s.
Sweetened condensed milk was created to help milk last longer. It is an incredibly stable product that can last for a long time without refrigeration. That’s a great thing for conditions where shelf stability is very important. It’s created by heating milk up to evaporate a lot of the water. This concentrates the milk solids making them more intense. At this point, the product is much more stable, but dangerous pathogenic bacteria can still grow.
Sugar is added to the condensed milk after evaporation. This sugar binds water that is left after condensing. Now there is not enough water available for pathogenic bacteria to grow. Now you have a shelf stable product! Side note: It’s important to refrigerate sweetened condensed milk after opening though because spoilage microorganisms like yeast and mold can still grow.
Now that you’re not so scared about sweetened condensed milk, get to making this incredibly simple recipe!
Cookie Butter
Adapted from A Beautiful Mess
Makes about 1 cup
1 ½ cups cookie crumbs (I used golden Oreos)
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup milk
A big pinch of kosher salt
1. If you’re using a cream-filled cookie like the golden Oreos I used, scrape the filling out of the cookies before using. Process the cookies until the crumbs are very fine.
2. Brown the butter by heating it over medium heat until it turns brown and tiny browned bits collect at the bottom. Be careful not to burn!
3. Pour the browned butter (bits and all—that’s the good part) into the cookie crumbs followed by the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth. Add more milk if not as smooth as you desire. If you are using moist cookies like homemade sugar cookies, reserve some milk when blending.
4. Store for several weeks in the fridge.
