The minute I saw Trader Joe’s was selling Pumpkin Pie Spice cookie butter, I knew I had to bake with it. Cookie Butter has been on a rapid ascent to U.S. popularity over these last couple years, particularly within the crowd that shops at Trader Joe’s. It’s actually not a Trader Joe’s invention: abroad it’s known as “speculoos” and it’s been popular for quite some time. It’s also been sold as Biscoff spread here in the States. But Trader Joe’s definitely gets credit for making cookie butter accessible to more Americans- and for that, I salute them.

Once I had a jar of Pumpkin Pie Spice cookie butter in my hands, I had an important decision to make. Should I put it into a cookie dough, adding that flavor into the cookie base itself? Or should I stuff it into chocolate chip cookies, like I did with regular cookie butter earlier this year? The answer was clear: I wanted to see what flavor the cookie butter would impart to dough itself. So I turned to my trusted Cookie Butter Blondie recipe from Confessions of a Baking Queen. I’ve made this recipe with regular cookie butter, to great results. I had my winner.

I followed Elizabeth’s original recipe, only swapping in the new variety of cookie butter. It turns out that putting Pumpkin Pie Spice cookie butter in her recipe is a really, really delicious choice. The flavored spread added a nice touch of pumpkin, along with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Yes, that’s right- unlike many “pumpkin spice” products, this spread does have pumpkin, along with all the spices usually included in “pumpkin spice.” So you get hints of allspice and cloves, pumpkin, plus the gingery taste of the typical cookie butter ingredients. Add that to a blondie base with chocolate chips- and I think you’ll understand why my friends were excited to see these appear at a Halloween party. Another important note about these blondies: they were the first thing I baked in my new apartment’s oven. Monumental, right?!

I plan to make these again very soon, probably to share with coworkers. Trader Joe’s actually sold out of the spread at the store closest to me, and the worker told me they probably won’t restock. So, dear readers, I encourage you to go out right now and seize the day- and seize some Pumpkin Pie Spice cookie butter, too.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Cookie Butter Blondies

Source: Confessions of a Baking Queen, with just a flavor swap

Yield: One 9×9 pan of blondies (roughly 20 blondies, depending on how you cut)

Suggested equipment: Mixer

Total Time: ~45 minutes

Cook Time: ~25 minutes

I broke the original recipe into a few more detailed steps and wrote my own commentary below.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temp.
1/2 cup Pumpkin Pie Spice cookie butter (if you can’t find any, I implore you to still make this with regular cookie butter!)
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup chocolate chips/ chocolate chunks
Sea salt for garnish

Directions

Get prepped to bake

Melt your butter
Line a 9×9 inch pan with foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray
Pre-heat your oven to 350F

Make your dough

Once the butter is cooled, combine it in the mixer with sugar, brown sugar and vanilla
Then, add in the egg and mix until incorporated
Mix in the cookie butter, and set the bowl aside
In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt
Add the dry ingredients (flour etc.) into the wet ingredients (butter etc.) and mix
Fold in the chocolate chips (I always do this part by hand so I don’t over-mix the dough)
Spread the dough into your prepared pan, trying to make it even on top
Sprinkle sea salt lightly over the top of your dough. Just a sprinkle does the trick, you don’t want the entire top covered in salt!

Bake your blondies

Bake for ~22-27 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine took a little longer so I ended up leaving it in around 25 minutes
Let cool for 30 minutes in the actual pan, then use the foil to remove the blondies from your pan