What Makes Butter Better? Cookies.

So, a little while ago I was introduced to something that BLEW my mind.  Cookie Butter.

Speculoos Cookie Butter - available at most Trader Joe's

If you read this blog enough, or even remotely know Fat Mike in real life, you know that I LOVE peanut butter.  I have a habit that constitutes about a jar a week, and I go at it with a spoon on most occasions.  That's why, when I heard about this revelation, I was a little bit tickled to try it out.  At the same time, I was worried because I'm not necessarily into things that are just (as Geoffrey Zakarian would say) "cloyingly sweet".

I opened the jar and saw a creamy, peanut butter-like consistency, and as I spread my spoon through it I knew that I was in for a treat.  The taste was like creamy, mild graham crackers and gingerbread, with a little bit of a sugar cookie, peanutty essence to it.  It was like heaven.  So delicious.  I will say that one of the things I like about PEANUT butter is the versatility.  Even though I'm one of those folks who just goes at it by the spoonful, peanut butter can go on many vessels from plain saltine crackers, to celery or apples.  Cooke butter, however, doesn't necessarily have that freedom.  To me, this is a jar food.  I could just sit, and scoop, and eat, and scoop and eat, and be happy.  I couldn't think of many different ways to use it, or to add it to anything besides the occasional piece of breakfast toast (an English Muffin perhaps? Mmmm)  This does NOT take away from the treat of keeping a jar in the house at all times to dip into once in a while.

As I raved about this new discovery, it was brought to my attention that there was an origin cookie for this spread, commonly found in German delis.

Spekulatius butter cookies

Luckily, there was a German deli nearby and soon I was eating Spekulatius butter cookies with cookie butter spread on top! This was divine.  Obviously, it's like eating an omelette sprinkled with crushed, hard boiled egg, but if cookie butter was so delicious why not jump the shark a little bit?  After all, I was trying to see whether getting the cookies could substitute for the cookie butter, and that was obviously not the case. Cookie butter in itself is genius.  The root cookie, while delicious, doesn't bring the same wow, or pizazz that the jarred stuff brings.

Little did I know, that this is not a unique item that has just lurched it's way into supermarkets. As I sang the praises of cookie butter to other folks, I heard that there was a "crunchy" version that people had eaten as kids.

Initially, I thought that the crunchy cookie butter would be similar to chunky peanut butter.  Did I really want something that had little bits of cookie crushed in it?  It didn't seem very appealing after enjoying the smooth and tastey initial sampling of cookie butter.  But everyone insisted that it's not the same, and that if I liked the Speculoos then I would LOVE the Biscoff.

Yo...
For reals...
This stuff is ridiculous (that's good).

I couldn't believe it.  I had a spoonful and I almost freaked out.  Sure, there's crushed cookie in it, but it's finely crushed and mixed throughout the spread.  When you take a spoonful, you don't just get chunks on the spoon.  It's like a fine, granulated cookie essence that lives on every spoonful.  As I showed it to other people, all of a sudden I kept hearing, "Oh, Biscoff! Sure!"  Next thing I knew, I was noticing in the peanut butter isle of my local grocery store.  Had I been blind to this the whole time?  Apparently.  My focused love for peanut butter had never allowed me to see what was sitting next to it on the very same shelf.  Biscoff cookie spread is an addictive jar of happiness.  This was a game changer for the Fat.  It just goes to show ya, there's always a sweet surprise out there somewhere. Enjoy.

Finger Cups

Ok, who knew about this and didn't tell me?  Apparently, there are BUTTERFINGER PEANUT BUTTER CUPS??????

I can't take credit for discovering this on my own.  This was brought to my attention by a colleague, but I was thankful to find out that I'm not just losing my touch and missing these gems in the candy isle.  They're not everywhere.  I'm unsure what drives the sales of items like this, but it appears that Butterfinger Cups are most abundantly available at CVS stores, and in limited quantities at Safeway and Kmart.

In the interest of full disclosure, Fat Mike is a bit of a peanut butter enthusiast.  When it comes tot he traditional PB&J sandwich, I lay off the sweet stuff and slather on some creamy, all natural Smucker's (for the record, my stirring technique cannot be beat). However, I do have a soft spot for staples like Jiff and Skippy.  After all, a guy's got to get his peanut butter fix somehow, right? At the same time, Fat Mike loves Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  I could eat 100, NAY 1000 if the mood strikes.  Nevertheless, I always have time for a "crispity, crunchity, peanut buttery" bite of a Butterfinger.  I typically find myself gorging on Butterfingers during the Halloween season, and that's why I was so ecstatic to find this new discovery and give it a try.

Just like McDonald's has the golden arches and McDowell's has the golden arcs, the first thing I noticed is that the Butterfinger cup is square (see picture above).  However, the cup itself is slightly thinner than a traditional Reese's cup in my estimation.  So, I don't think Butterfinger offers any additional value in size or volume (right).

However, this experience is NOT meant to see whether the Butterfinger cup would be BETTER than a Reese's, but how they would capture the essence of a Butterfinger in the smaller, thinner cup vessel. There's only one way to find out.  I went out and got myself an original.

\



You can already tell from the picture shown of the Butterfinger cup above that there is some serious texture lacking when compared to the original candy bar.

I don't know who in their right mind thought that Butterfingers could stand alone on the merit of the peanut butter FLAVOR. There's a reason why the ad geniuses of the 90s put the "crispity" and "crunchity" in front of the peanut butter part.  That's what makes a Butterfinger unique, and this cup has stripped the Butterfinger of its identity.  This is just another example of a company deciding that competition is necessary to add a few coins to their pocket book without taking into consideration the value of the brand they had already established.  It's shameful.

When I first saw the Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cup, I was upset.  Upset by the fact that this had been kept from me.  Upset by the idea that this existed without my knowledge.  Afterward, I was upset that the candy bar had to carry the same brand name.

Here's to you, Butterfinger candy bar.  I respect what you do, I'm thankful for the happiness you provide, and I appreciate what makes you special.