Welcome to a groundbreaking moment on The Kitchen Paper: DEREK'S FIRST GUEST POST! I'm excited, he's excited — we hope you're excited, too! Ever since the wild success of oreo cookie butter (literally, 3x more views than ANY other recipe on this site), Derek has been bugging me to make more cookie butters. More specifically, Nutter Butter Butter. I gave in with the thin mint butter, since I LOOVE thin mints, but he actually had to take it upon himself to make this nutter butter butter (under my supervision, of course!). I'll admit it, even with my not-so-loving relationship with peanut butter desserts: this stuff is delicious. Don't quote me on that, but it really is! Here's my lovely husband! {Also, go check out his blog!!}
OK, so the reason I am taking over Mary's blog for this post is because I like peanut butter way more than she does. I even had to go to the store myself and sneak-buy the Nutter Butters for this recipe. This recipe was born in the spirit of all the best products and ideas that copy and riff on other good food products out there (I'm looking at you grasshopper cookies!).
I heard about how many people loved Oreo cookie butter and went to the next logical place: Nutter Butters Butter. What a fabulous ring that has to it! Reminds me of a shortstop yelling at the batter: "Hey batter batter! How about some Nutter Butter Butter? Whaddaya say now?"
Now, Nutter Butters may not be America's number one cookie, but I guarantee you that I can eat a whole box all at once. Store bought cookies were a staple in my pantry until I met Mary. When we first met she would come over and bake some desserts in my kitchen before I got home from work. Arriving home to fresh baked desserts was such a clever way to make me pay attention! Muahahaha. My plans worked!
As a scientist, I've learned that many of our best results start as an ad-hoc or off-the-cuff exploratory experiment, done before the "official" experiment. I take the same approach when making new foods. It is not a stretch for me to, say, blend up a whole lot of different types of cookies to see what happens.
Every once in a while I like to cook a little something just to prove that I can still do it. For this Nutter Butter Butter, I really enjoyed Mary's input: “How much butter should we add?” Well, just add 2 tbsp, blend and see… Not yet? Add 2 more until you get that right amount of smoothness.
See this iterative approach is the way of my heroes Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and James Dyson, all of whom had over 1000 prototypes before they had their flagship invention. This is what I love about cooking and food experiments: you gradually refine the flavors, the textures, and what it looks like.
The experience of knowing which ingredients will add just the right amount of smoothness or spiciness or nuttiness is what makes a good chef and a good food blogger. I have been so happy and fascinated to see Mary learn and then master her cooking toolkit.
Now that she knows so much about cooking, sometimes I feel like the dinosaur parent whose kid is the expert at new technology. If you are me, you might hear something like "geez Derek, everyone knows you have to knead the dough to activate the gluten fibers, duh."
When it comes to judging the quality of a dish, I am strongly in the "flavor-is-king" camp, appearance be damned, while Mary always has to make sure the food looks good for her photography. No plastic hamburger props at our house (although maybe I should give Mary some plastic strawberries to reuse over and over).
For me, eating food is an experience that must be exciting and at its best is one of the quintessential experiences of being alive and being human. The limitation of food blogging is undoubtedly having to transmit the intricate dance of the aroma, taste, texture, temperature with only words and photographs. When the internets starts coming with smells, you can bet food bloggers will be the early adopters.
Thank you to Mary for letting me take over the blog for a day. Now go out there and play with your food!
Nutter Butter Butter
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- ¾ package (16 oz) package of Nutter Butters
- 6 Tbsp butter, melted
Instructions
- In a strong blender or food processor, blend the cookies until they are a fine powder. Add the melted butter and blend until totally smooth. If necessary, add more butter 2 tablespoon at a time.
- Store in the refrigerator, but microwave before eating to soften (it will harden upon cooling, but easily becomes spreadable again with heat).
sandra says
I have wondered about cookie butter for some time. I am not sure what one is supposed to do with it? Is it a dip? An ingredient for further concocting? In any case - if I were to test the waters of the cookie butter I would definitely start with this one - by far my favorite choice between oreo and speculoos.
Mary says
It is all of the above — for eating on a spoon, on toast, dipping cookies in (whoaa), OR further concocting. It seems really silly, but you could make cookie butter and then make cookies WITH cookie butter. I haven't done it, but I've seen recipes! My favorite method is on a spoon, cracker, or toast. Mostly toast. Enjoy!
Nancy says
Haha. So only 3/4 package of cookies... Wonder where the rest of them go?? Came looking for a recipe to make nutter butter type cookies. Now must buy and make this too
★★★★
Mary says
Ha! I had to budget in the "disappear into my stomach" portion of the package!! Enjoy, Nancy! xo
Sebastian Sanchez says
I’m six years late to this idea. Can’t wait to try this!! Thanks! Hope all is well in these unfortunate times.