Cookie Butter Frosting

Have you heard of cookie butter? Please say you have.

I first discovered this creamy spread at the waffle truck (Wafels and Dinges) in New York City, which specializes in all things Belgian. Their Wafel of Massive Deliciousness is piled a mile high with dulce de leche, chocolate fudge, maple syrup, bananas, strawberries, walnuts, Nutella, whipped cream, and Spekuloos, also known as cookie butter. Cookie butter has an addictive gingerbread-y taste and the consistency of peanut butter. Biscoff and Trader Joe’s each make their own version, and I like to eat it straight off the spoon or with a few chocolate cake scraps. Which led to my experimenting with this frosting.

I actually formulated and tested this recipe all on my own, so I’m especially proud of it! The cake I sampled it with was my favorite chocolate recipe from Java Cupcake, but I imagine it would be to-die-for on a banana cake base. That was actually my original plan, to make a banana cake, but unfortunately I have no bananas. Or any other fruit. Or Greek yogurt…sad Dru.

But I do have this frosting!

When you make frosting, there are three consistencies it can have: thin, medium, or stiff. Thin-medium frosting is usually the one used to ice cakes, because it can be spread easily and still hold its shape. To test for consistency, place a knife or rubber spatula standing up in the bowl of frosting, and jiggle the bowl. If the knife stays in place, the frosting is stiff and needs more milk or water. If it moves or slants a little, it is medium and needs just a tiny bit more liquid. If you think it is too thin, mix in some more powdered sugar. For the ideal cake-icing buttercream, the knife will fall completely, and the frosting will ooze slowly when held upside down on a spoon.

Cookie Butter Frosting

Ingredients

¾ cups butter (1 ½ sticks), room temperature
½ cup cookie butter
2 tbs + 1 tsp milk (dairy, soy, or almond), or as needed
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar, or as needed

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter for two minutes on medium-high speed.

2. Add the cookie butter, milk, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla and cream on medium-high for an additional minute.

3. On low speed, add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then increase the speed to medium-high for about thirty seconds. The frosting should have a thin, creamy consistency, where a knife stood up in the center of the buttercream will fall when the bowl is jiggled.

Conclusions:

I love the consistency of this frosting. When I set out to make this, I thought I would need two sticks of butter and four cups of powdred sugar, like traditional buttercream, but I decided to test it with a little less butter, thinking the Spekuloos would make up for it. It worked, but I also had to cut back on the powdered sugar, and add some liquid. I ended up with more than enough to frost the cake, so it was perfect! The recipe also needed a little extra cinnamon to bring out the cookie butter flavor. Would some nutmeg or ginger enhance it, too? I think beautifully. It will certainly be exciting to experiment with different cake bases for this frosting!