Cookie Butter Cupcakes

Cookie Butter Cupcakes - made October 4, 2014, recipe adapted from The Baker Chick

Awhile back, my local Target used to carry Biscoff cookies. If you're not familiar with Biscoff, they're to cookie butter what peanuts are to peanut butter. And ever since I had that delicious cookie butter cupcake from Fairy Cakes, I've been wanting to recreate something similar. Surprisingly, there weren't that many recipes for cookie butter cupcakes on pinterest. But I did find this one that used cookie butter as a filling and Biscoff cookies as a garnish.

Unfortunately, when I went to Target to buy some Biscoff cookies, it appeared they no longer carried them. Not that they were temporarily sold out but completely no longer available. Seriously? They carry 93 different kinds of Oreos but not even an inch of shelf space for Biscoff cookies? Total letdown. Fortunately, I had to go to Trader Joe's the same day and what should catch my roving, sugar-seeking eye than Speculoos cookies?? Speculoos and Biscoff have become synonymous in my vocabulary. Biscoff spread is just a tad smoother and less stiff than Speculoos cookie butter but I can confirm Speculoos cookies are just as delicious as Biscoff cookies. You're welcome.

So I was sufficiently equipped to make this cupcake recipe. But I have to confess up front that I made an error when reading the directions. Which means I thought the directions were wrong because they list cookie butter as an ingredient but skipped any step about adding cookie butter to the batter. So I did it myself. Of course as soon as I had added the cookie butter into the batter, I realized the original recipe meant the cookie butter was just for the filling after the cupcakes were baked, not for adding into the batter itself. Oops.

But I decided to go with it. C'mon on, it's cookie butter - how bad could the cupcakes turn out? I did make one more modification and added 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda as well. The batter has buttermilk in it and if you don't add baking soda to anything with buttermilk, there'll be nothing to neutralize the acid in the buttermilk and it'll have a tang to whatever you bake. Plus, with a heavy ingredient like cookie butter in the batter, I wanted a little more chemical leavening to prevent the cupcakes from being too dense.

Turns out my tinkering turned out pretty well.  The cupcakes had a nice fluffy texture. The cookie butter flavor wasn't too pronounced but still had a nice presence in the cupcake. Which was helped along by the cookie butter frosting. The frosting I made wasn't quite as good as the one from Fairy Cakes but it was still pretty decent. Which is code for I ate it but not every speck of it like I did with the Fairy Cakes one. Unless a frosting is super spectacular, I tend to eat less than half whatever was on the cupcake.

I cored the middle of these and filled the centers with Speculoos cookie butter then piped the frosting around it. I bought a large star tip to pipe with that was big enough to make those nice big swirls like you see on bakery cupcakes. I want one even bigger but not sure if they make it or where to get it. For now, this one will do.

The Speculoos cookie garnish is also a nice touch with these cupcakes but I would advise not adding them until the last minute or they might lose their crunch sitting in the frosting and exposed to air for too long. You want them to remain crisp to provide a good texture contrast between the fluffy cupcake and the smooth, sweet frosting. There's also half a cookie at the bottom of each cupcake but I didn't think that added anything spectacular to the cupcake since it softened in baking but was still more dense than the cupcake itself. Next time I'm going to make these the way they're supposed to be made without the cookie butter in the batter and without the cookie on the bottom. I want to see if they turn out closer to Fairy Cakes. I'm on a mission now.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a large pinch of salt
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
12 speculoos cookies broken in half
3/4 cup cookie butter

Frosting
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup cookie butter
1-2 cups powdered sugar
splash of milk
Speculoos cookies for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line cupcake pans with liners and place half a cookie into each one, set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, mix in vanilla. Add cookie butter.
5. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the bowl- don't over mix the batter.
6. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from pan. Let cupcakes cool completely.
7. Use a paring knife to core a small little but out of each cupcake and fill with a small dollop of cookie butter.

For Frosting:

1. Cream together the butter and cookie butter. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until thick. Add a small splash of milk and mix on high until smooth and creamy.
2. Spread or pipe onto the cooled and filled cupcakes and top with speculoos cookies if desired.

Instructions