These fig & speculoos cookie butter cookies are a fun alternative to typical chocolate chip cookies. These soft and chewy cookie butter cookies are made with speculoos cookie butter spread and dried figs and taste oh-so-amazing.
Living so close to the Canada-US border definitely has its perks. Once every
Really though, I could eat cookie butter on anything. I like to smear it in between stacks of pancakes, bake with it, and honestly just eat it by the spoonful. For my first baking trial with it to find the perfect cookie butter cookie recipe, I decided to start small so I wouldn't be wasting too much of this precious commodity that takes a 2 hour round trip to obtain. These cookie butter fig cookies ended up better than I could have ever imagined.
What are speculoos?
Speculoos (or speculaas) are thin, crispy, spiced cookies that taste like gingersnaps. They originate from Belgium and the Netherlands and are usually served as a snack with coffee or tea.
What is cookie butter?
Cookie butter is a creamy spread made with crushed speculoos cookies. It's similar in texture to peanut butter. The most common branded cookie butter spreads are Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter and Lotus Biscoff Cookie Butter. You can also make homemade cookie butter with gingersnap cookies or any kind of cookie, for that matter.
How to make fig & speculoos cookie butter cookies
In a mixing bowl, combine both sugars, salt, melted butter, and speculoos cookie butter spread. Scrape the cookie butter against the sides of the bowl to help soften it. Mix until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix again until smooth.
Sift the flour and baking soda into the wet batter and fold with a spatula until just combined and there are no more large chunks of flour. The sifting adds in more air to the batter to make them nice and fluffy instead of hard and dense. Don't overmix the batter!
Toss in the chopped dried figs and fold a few times to distribute. Hang on to a few pieces of fig for later if you want to "see" the pieces of fig on the tops of the cookies (optional).
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. This will make scooping the dough much easier. Meanwhile, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
When the dough is chilled, use an ice cream scoop (the ones with the spring release mechanism) to scoop domes of cookie dough and place them on the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches in between each cookie to leave room for spreading. On a large baking sheet, you will probably be able to fit 6 medium-sized cookies.
Press a couple chunks of dried fig on the tops of the cookie dough domes. Return the tray to the fridge to chill for another 15-30 minutes. Chilling at this point is optional but I highly recommend it if you want thick, chewy cookies. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).
Bake cookies for about 13-15 minutes or until the edges just begin to lightly brown. They should still be very soft and will firm up as they cool. Leave them to cool on the tray for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. And definitely eat one while they're still warm!
More cookie recipes to try
- Toasted Pistachio Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Matcha Linzer Cookies
- Chocolate Chip S’mores Cookies
- Salted Chocolate Sablé Cookies
- Mini Egg Cookies
Fig & Speculoos Cookie Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 100 g brown sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 115 g unsalted butter, melted
- 100 g speculoos cookie butter spread
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 170 g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 100 g dried figs, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Combine sugars, salt, melted butter, and speculoos cookie butter spread in a mixing bowl. Mix until no lumps remain.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until batter is smooth.
- With a large sieve, sift flour and baking soda into the batter. Fold until just combined. Do not overmix!
- Fold in dried fig chunks, reserving a small handful for later (optional).
- Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30 mins.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. With an ice cream scoop, scoop out 1-2 inch spherical mounds of the chilled cookie dough onto baking sheet. Leave at least 2-3 inches between adjacent cookies and sides of the tray for spreading (about 6 cookies per large tray).
- With the extra pieces of dried fig you set aside earlier, press a few pieces on top of each cookie dough mound (optional: skip this step if you don't care about "seeing" the fig pieces on the tops of your cookies)
- Return tray to the fridge to chill for another 15-30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies just begin to lightly brown. Do not overbake! They should be still be soft and will firm up as they cool.
- Let cool for 3-5 minutes on baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack. Preferably enjoy while still warm!
Hannah
I have made these a few times. I substitute the figs for chocolate chips. Honestly these are the yummiest cookies I have ever made. Everyone I make them for loves them and I think they are slowly becoming my go to treat. Thank you!
Maria
These cookies are amazing! I didn't have figs, so I substituted dark chocolate but I am excited to make these again. with figs next time.