I’m one of those ‘weird’ girls – I’m not really a big candy person. Like I like chocolate and at times crave it but I just am not one to randomly buy a candy bar. It could be due to the fact that I’m not a huge sweets eater. Don’t get me wrong there are days when I need ice cream, chocolate ganache, or just a single bite of plain chocolate cake. I am human after all. However…
There is one candy that I love and when I mean love, I mean get-out-of-my-face-while-I-eat-it love. Those Easter peanut butter eggs; those beautiful little yellow-wrapped pieces of heaven! It was right around Easter and I was at Sam’s Club and there that bag was.. staring at me, shaking its wrapper like a naughty little dancer trying to seduce me with its chocolate coating and creamy peanut butter center.
Well, I gave in to temptation and bought the bag.. the bag that contained 92 of these things. Apparently, at that time I felt “Sure, 92 of ’em? No problem! I’ll have ’em gone in a week!”
Since I was starving, realizing I hadn’t eaten breakfast I opened up the bag as soon as I got in my car and pulled one out…then another…then another.
Well, let’s just say I gave in to temptation 5 times on the way home. *hangs her head in shame* Needless to say I gave myself one hell of a stomach ache. And sadly, I was done with these things. Like I didn’t want another one for a whole year. So in they went to to my glass jar and they sat.
…and sat. Once in a while friends would stop over and partake and while I was sick of eating them my inner 5-year-old was like “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THOSE ARE MINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEE” but I kept it inside.
Well, a few weeks after Easter I had to figure out what to do with these things. Eating them wasn’t an option for me and I’m not one for freezing candy. I hate it when chocolate turns white. So I had to put on my thinking cap. See one of the reasons Mr. Fantabulous isn’t a huge fan of these is because he’s generally not a huge peanut butter fan. He’ll eat it but it’s not something he ever really asks for. God forbid I ask him to eat a peanut butter cookie! You’d think I was trying to poison the man!
Thus I had to put on my thinking cap and figure out what I could use these in. I don’t care for candy in cupcakes or regular cakes. It’s a texture thing for me. It just doesn’t marry well in my opinion. Some people like it; to each their own. So my choices were really ice cream (which I don’t like frozen candy in the first place so that was out), cookies or … wait… what about a cookie pie? So I got to tinkering around trying to figure out what flavors would go with this. I was going to go with either a basic peanut butter cookie recipe or a chocolate chip recipe but as I said Mr. Fantabulous would not be happy if I went with the peanut butter flavor and dear God if I altered my chocolate chip cookie recipe in any way I honestly think the man would file for divorce! LOL
I needed something other than just butter as a fat in the recipe. As I was rummaging through my cabinets I spied a brand new jar of Cookie Butter. Have you tried it yet? It’s seriously the next best thing since peanut butter, bacon (well okay.. NOTHING is better than bacon), chocolate, Vin Diesel, rainbows, teacup piggies, and air! It’s basically ground Speculass (Speculoos) cookies mixed with spices and some coconut oil that is seriously AWESOME in a jar! A few health food stores here have it, plus you can get it online. I actually found it in GINORMOUS size at Costco (yes I bought 4 containers TYVM!).
I opened the jar and instantly you’re hit with this aroma that is spicy, sweet, and well cookie-ish. I mean it’s made out of cookies. Okay fine.. YES damn it! I did dip my spoon in it once (or 4) times to taste it. I mean I had to see if it was bad, right? <insert batting of baby blues> Dear GOD that stuff is amazing!
As I mixed up the wet ingredients I started thinking more about this recipe. I wanted it as a cookie but also a pie. The main difference here really is unlike cookies this recipe has no leavening agents – no baking powder, no baking soda – nada. I didn’t want it to rise and be puffy like a cookie per se. What I wanted was a not-quite-firm texture with a chewy, soft center. Something you could use a fork and knife with but you didn’t have to if you didn’t want to. I wanted it so if you did slice it up and didn’t have plates that you could hold it in your hand and not have it flop over.
Okay, so confession #2 (since #1 was telling you how many of the peanut butter eggs I ate on the way home), this batter/dough/whatever-you-wanna-call-this-bowl-of-awesomeness almost didn’t make it into the pie pan. See I taste all the batters. That’s how I know if something will turn out or not. 99% of the time the end-baked item is spot on but I’m human and even yours truly can get it wrong. I mean I did used to think shoulder pads were hot (forgive me). lol But this stuff. Oh dear sweet baby Jesus! But my yoga pants reminded me that it was a privilege to wear them out in public and not be made fun of so I quickly put the dough in the sprayed pie pan and got to work.
The smell this cookie pie produced was nothing short of pure seduction.
This cookie butter pie will bring a strong man to his knees!
After this was completely cooled I was unbelievably excited to do the photo shoot. As I cut this thing the top is just slightly crispy while the inside is soft and chewy. Absolute perfect texture. As I was finishing up the shoot the smell started to get to me. I had to try just a sliver. I mean for the sake of you guys, I had to make sure it was edible. Right? <insert more baby blues batting> LOL
Well, Mr. Perfect Timing showed up in the kitchen just as I was getting ready to sit down and try my sliver…
yeah, you know what’s coming next…
“HEY! What’s that? It smells amazing, can I try a bite.. wait you’re not going to eat that. You don’t like sweets. Thanks, hon!”
… and there goes my sliver. <deep sigh> Swear to God that man truly does a bottomless pit. So I go and cut another sliver and pick it up only to hear him coming towards me. “Man baby that was awesome! What’s in that? Oh hey, thanks! I wanted another piece!”
PrintCookie Butter Candy Pie
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Ingredients
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, unsalted melted
- 1/2 cup Cookie Butter
- 1 XL egg
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 18 Reese’s Peanut Butter Easter eggs (bite-sized) or 9 regular-sized ones
- 1 tablespoon coarse sanding sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F with the rack in the middle. Take 15 of the Mini Easter eggs and cut them in half. Set the remaining 3 aside. Spray a 9-inch glass pie dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place the melted butter and cookie butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds just until the Cookie Butter can be mixed to a smooth consistency with the butter. Set aside for 30 seconds to allow the mixture to cool. Add in the egg and mix until well combined. Add in the brown and granulated sugar and mix until smooth. Add the flour and salt, and stir just until there are no traces of flour. Do not overmix and do not use a mixer.
- Gently fold in 3/4’s of the chopped (mini peanut butter eggs). The cookie dough will have almost a thicker consistency. Just fold in gently.
- Place the dough into the prepared pie dish, gently pressing down to make level. Take the remaining 1/4 chopped peanut butter eggs and gently push them down into the dough just so they are flush with the top of the dough. Sprinkle coarse sanding sugar on top.
- Bake for about 26-28 or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs. Remove the cookie pie from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
- Allow the pie to cool in the dish for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. The pie will have crisper edges with a soft center. If you prefer a crispier cookie all the way through, cook for a few more minutes. While the pie is cooling take the remaining 3 Easter eggs (non-cut) and garnish on top in the middle for decoration.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
The Cookie Butter can be ordered here: Cookie Butter
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