Chocolate Cookie Butter

I really don’t choose to eat or buy many industrial food products. By “industrial food products,” I mean the kind of stuff that is edible, and probably totally delicious, but with ingredient labels that don’t boast many components easily recognized as food. (And many of those recognizable components are some form of sugar.)  That’s why I initially rejected the concept of cookie butter. For goodness sake, how is that not total junk food? Well, I eventually got a hold of a jar of Biscoff spread (many years ago), just to taste. You know, to be fully informed.

Like the occasional bag of delicious, delicious potato chips, cookie butter eventually became a part of worldly culture I could no longer opt out of. Super creamy, extra sweet, semi-liquid cookie I could spread on toasted bagels and homemade bread. I was in trouble.

I didn’t get around to fiddling with the cookie butter concept in any homemade way until recently, however, when more and more recipes began popping up all over the internet and in popular food magazines. They looked so simple, and, even though the store-bought cookies that make up the bulk of these butters are still packaged icons of the scary food industry, I just had to try.

And the chocolate butter I made with Oreo-brand sandwich cookies is wonderful! As deeply chocolatey as the cookies that go into it (how could it not be?), super smooth and spreadable, even right out of the refrigerator, this stuff is the true black gold. I love it!

If you have a food processor, this couldn’t be simpler to make. There’s just a small solution of milk, sugar, butter and cocoa that goes into Oreo crumbs and turns them magically into lusciously creamy and sweet chocolate toast enhancement. It is a little sticky, but you totally won’t mind licking off it of butter knives, plate edges, and fingers.

I felt a little like I was making a kind of illicit purchase when I went out to buy the cookies to make this spread, like I needed to wear a trench coat and oversize fedora. Like I was exposing myself as some sort of whole-food fraud….Like anybody really cares what I buy at the grocery store! For something this fun and delicious, I intend to lighten up! At least a little bit.

Chocolate Cookie Butter

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

12 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos

1. In a small saucepan, combine the milk, butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Warm over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sugar and cocoa are dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Transfer the cooled mixture to a measuring cup with a spout for easier pouring.

2. Place the cookies in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the cookies are coarsely ground.

3. With the food processor running, slowly pour the milk mixture in with the cookie crumbs. Continue processing until very smooth. Transfer to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 ½ cups cookie butter.

Coming soon: Marmalade Cream Cheese Baked French Toast