Hanukkah is almost over. It always goes so quickly... Christmas is around the corner and then it’ll be New Year’s before we know it. 2013 — how crazy! For the 5th night of Hanukkah Baking, I tried something totally and completely 100% new to my baking repertoire! COOKIE BUTTER!
I admit, I am the last food blogger on the planet to jump on the Biscoff band wagon. I had never even heard of it until my fellow foodies began posting recipe after recipe using this mystery spread. It’s like cookie butter, made from those biscuit cookies you get on some airlines. I got the Trader Joe’s brand of Speculoos , which is basically the same thing. It smells like gingerbread and is made up of all the best spices for baking: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cardamom. I don’t know what took me so long to get a jar of this stuff, but I am so glad I finally did.
I starting searching all over the blogosphere for a good first recipe to use with my new cookie butter. I just couldn’t make up my mind. Did I want to make cookies, or should I bake up a batch of brownies instead? Did I want cupcakes or muffins? But then I saw this recipe for chocolate chip cookie granola bars from Sally’s Baking Addiction using the same jar of Speculoos I have, and thought “hmm...I can work with this.” I originally planned on copying her recipe, but when I looked at what I had in my kitchen, I was missing a few key ingredients. So I improvised and came up with my own version of granola bars instead. Thank you for the inspiration, Sally!
Coconut Cookie Butter Granola Bars
1/2 cup Speculoos Cookie Butter or Biscoff spread1/4 cup agave (amber)1 egg1 tsp vanilla extract2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats1/4 cup light brown sugar1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut1/4 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small, shallow baking pan. Melt the cookie butter in the microwave. In a medium bowl, beat the melted cookie butter, agave, egg and vanilla. Add the oats and sugar and mix until a batter starts to form. Stir in the coconut and raisins until combined. Transfer the batter into the baking pan and pat down. Bake for ~20 minutes. Cool in the refrigerator overnight (or a few hours if you just can’t wait that long) before cutting.
