Brown Sugar Biscoff Bars

It’s almost time for holiday baking, but there are still a couple of weeks before I fully change to making festive treats. I will be doings things a it differently this year, but I will say more about that later. There is still this and next Friday where I will post non-holiday cookies. I will be honest though, I look at a lot of cookies that are called holiday cookies and I don’t think they seem festive. I guess if you only bake once per year, then anything you bake is festive?

These are quick and simple bars, but the flavors make up for their simplicity! I like using Biscoff or Cookie Butter Spread in cookies, and I have made a couple of different recipes. This recipe felt like something I had made before, but I hadn’t, so I was excited to try these. The biggest delay in making these cookies is waiting for the crust to cool a bit before adding the topping, but I guess I can wait 30 minutes.

These bars have a very simple base, which is par-baked and then topped with filling. I didn’t stress about getting the base super smooth and even, since no one will see that in the end. The filling is primarily egg and brown sugar, with a small amount of Biscoff for flavor. When I cut these, they were just about the stickiest thing ever, and the filling reminds me of a pecan pie. Yum! They do become less sticky over time, but these bars honestly didn’t last very long since they are so tasty!

Brown Sugar Biscoff Bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Biscoff/cookie butter spread
1/2 cup flour

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, flour, and salt on medium until combined. Press into the base of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow the base to cool for 30 minutes.

Once the base has cooled, using the same mixing bowl, beat the eggs, brown sugar, Biscoff spread, and flour on medium until smooth. Pour the mixture over the cookie base.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the middle is set. Allow to cool before removing from the pan and cutting into squares.

Recipe from Handle the Heat

Biscoff Cookie Butter Bars

Because I am not taking cookies to work, I sometimes chat with my friends about cookies that I have made. This week, I noted that I made these bars, originally called Speculoos Cookie Butter Bars, and she wasn’t sure what cookie butter was. She had eaten Biscoff cookies, and I explained it was a spread made of those. It’s very tasty! A few years ago, Biscoff cookies and cookie butter spread were not available anywhere, but now they’re easy to find.

You even have options. This recipe used the version sold at Trader Joe’s, where they sell the Speculoos cookies and cookie butter spread. I don’t always make it to Trader Joe’s, and recently there’s been a long line when I go by, so I bought the “original” Biscoff cookies and Biscoff spread at the store. Either product works fine. The weights of the packages are nearly equivalent, so they are interchangeable. I was thrilled that the Biscoff cookie package was slightly more than 7 ounces, so my husband and I each enjoyed a cookie.

These cookies require little baking, which is good as the weather may be warm where you live. There isn’t a lot of baking in this recipe, but you do make the topping/frosting. Store-bought frosting just isn’t good, so it is best to make your own. I made these in stages, when I had a few minutes here, a couple of minutes there, which was great. The bars are very good, but the base is slightly crumbly, so make sure that you store them in the refrigerator to keep them together!

Biscoff Cookie Butter Bars

7 ounces Biscoff/Speculoos cookies

¼ cup butter, melted

14 ounces Biscoff/cookie butter spread

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor, process the cookies until finely crushed. Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl, reserve two tablespoons of crushed cookies for the topping. Mix the remaining cookies with the melted butter and stir to combine. Put the crumbs into the prepared pan and flatten with the bottom of a measuring cup to create an even layer.

Bake for 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the base to cool.

Once cool, spread the cookie butter over the cooled base. Place the cookies in the freezer while you make the topping.

To make the topping, place the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 cup powdered sugar into a large mixer bowl. Mix on medium until combined. Add the second cup of powdered sugar and beat on medium until smooth. Spread the topping evenly over the cookie butter layer. Sprinkle the bars with the reserved cookie crumbs. Refrigerate for at least an hour, until the bars are completely firm. Remove the bars from the pan and cut into squares. Store the bars in the refrigerator.

Recipe from Foodness Gracious

Pecan Cake Bars with Biscoff Glaze

These bars sounded so good to me; the perfect fall cookie! They contain pecans, maple, and Biscoff, which is a unique and wonderful combination. Looking at this recipe, the question comes to mind: What is a cookie and what is a cake? These bars started their live as a cake, and the cake part I made the same. Some cookies are cakey, so we are going to call it that. I did change the icing, as otherwise this would be a sheet cake.

In looking at this recipe, it looks a lot like bar cookies. Cakes are often made with a different method, but this is made exactly like a cookie. This recipe does contain more eggs, which is really the biggest different. There is also a tablespoon of baking powder, much more than is typically found in cookies. For the topping, I swapped out the frosting for a glaze, as that works better for cookies. I went online and found this glaze, which was perfect.

This recipe was easy to make, waiting for the bars to cool the biggest challenge. I tried to use my small food processor to grind the pecans and sugar, but it was just too little. A regular-sized food processor is certainly needed for this recipe. You could make this into a cake, but changing up the frosting, but I like it just as it is.

Pecan Cake Bars with Biscoff Glaze

½ cup pecan halves

½ cup sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

4 eggs

¼ cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons milk

1-2/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup powdered sugar

½ cup Biscoff spread

½ teaspoon vanilla

4-5 tablespoons milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor, process the pecans, sugar, and brown sugar until finely ground. Transfer the mixture to a large mixer bowl. Add the butter to the mixer bowl and mix the butter and pecan mixture on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low, stir in the maple syrup and milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture and stir until fully combined. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the bars are set and browned along the edges. Cool completely before glazing.

Make the glaze: in a large mixer bowl combine the powdered sugar, Biscoff spread, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons milk. Mix until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add additional milk. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled bars. Allow the glaze to set before cutting into bars.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home Fall Baking and Lauren’s Latest

Chocolate Oatmeal Biscoff Cookies

It’s been another crazy week at work and while I am very tired, I was looking forward to baking this week. I decided that I have a lot of cookbooks, and I wanted to use a recipe from an actual cookbook. Dorie’s Cookies sits on my kitchen counter, and I decided to start there. I picked a recipe and then later realized that I had already made those cookies, so I had to find another recipe for which I had all of the ingredients.

This recipe contains primarily basics: oats, cocoa powder, chocolate chips. Biscoff spread is something that I have in the cupboard all of the time. In fact, I had three jars of slightly different varieties of Biscoff/cookie butter/speculoos spread. I wanted to make dairy free cookies this week, so my friend at work can enjoy them too. I looked at the Biscoff spread and it is vegan, so I used that. I used vegan butter and dairy free chocolate chips. These cookies do contain egg, so they aren’t vegan, but my friend can have eggs.

This is interesting dough. When the dough is unbaked, it’s very similar in texture to chocolate/oat no-bake cookies, which I don’t care for because I don’t like the texture. The dough firms up nicely after a couple of hours in the refrigerator. I made mine small; I’m not sure how the baking time would differ for a larger cookie. I tried flattening the cookies with a small juice glass, but they stuck so I used the palm of my hand and they turned out. Bake them for the specified time, even though the don’t look done when you take them out of the oven. These cookies are a bit crisp around the edges but still soft in the middle. The Biscoff flavor is subtle, but adds an interesting note to the cocoa and oats flavor.

Chocolate Oatmeal Biscoff Cookies

1-1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

½ cup flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup butter (or alternative)

½ cup Biscoff spread

½ cup sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 egg

½ cup chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, Biscoff spread, sugar, brown sugar, and salt on medium until smooth, about 4 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another minute. Stop the mixer add the oat/flour mixture, a mix on low, turning the mixer on and off, until almost mixed. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low to combine. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. With the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, flatten the balls into a round.

Bake for about 11 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 6 minutes of baking. The cookies will look uncooked in the center and will be barely set along the edges. Do not over bake. Allow the cookies to set on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan