Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter Shortbread

The Cookie Butter Shortbread is a new riff on my classic Shortbread recipe that I’ve also made with espresso powder and chocolate chips–and also with an infusion of lemon and a glaze. It’s a versatile base recipe.

Now, I bet some of you are asking–what is cookie butter? It’s essentially pureed spice cookies with oil, forming a spreadable consistency just like peanut butter. You can find it in stores by the nut butter; Trader Joe’s carries it under the name Speculoos. What cookie butter does is make cookies taste more… cookie. You’ll know what I mean when you try it.

This is not a crisp shortbread like the traditional Walker’s brand (which is delicious in its own right). No, this shortbread is cakey and soft, only crisp at the very edge.

Sometimes the first piece out of the pan can even be fussy and break in half; a metal pie spatula helps, but sometimes it can still happen. That’s no major problem, though, because of every bite of Shortbread is good, even if it’s not perfectly photogenic.

Enjoy this Cookie Butter Shortbread for breakfast or snacks, or in proper fashion at tea time.

PrintBready or Not Original: Cookie Butter ShortbreadThis new twist on my classic Shortbread mixes cookie butter and chocolate chips into the dough! These are cookies with an extra oomph of cookie flavor.Course Breakfast, Dessert, SnackCuisine British, ScottishKeyword chocolate, cookie butter, cookies, shortbreadAuthor Beth CatoEquipment2 pie platesIngredients2 cups all-purpose flour3/4 cup white sugar1/4 teaspoon salt1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened1 egg yolk1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract1/4 cup creamy cookie butter1/2 cup milk chocolate chipsInstructionsPreheat oven at 375-degrees. Apply nonstick spray to both pie plates.Stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and cookie butter. Use hands to compress dough together. Add the chocolate chips and mix, bringing dough together again to form a ball. Divide in half, placing one in each pie plate. Flatten dough with palms to create an even surface. Prick surface all over with a fork then use a knife to slash dough into triangular wedges.Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middle is set. Remove from oven and cut again along slash marks. Let shortbread cool completely, then cut again along existing marks.Shortbread keeps for several days at room temperature. It can be stored covered in pie plates, or stacked in a sealed container with wax paper between the layers.OM NOM NOM!