A little free time is a mixed blessing.  The other day I was without a car and without my laptop for a good part of the day.  That kind of double whammy doesn’t happen very often, and when it does, I get a little stir crazy.  I could have done so many things with the time, like tackle the year-old ironing pile, clear off my desk, read a good book… instead I did this.

But don’t worry, this won’t take a lot of your time.  If you’ve got 10 minutes and a food processor, you’re in for a treat.  2 sleeves of cookies, and 2 cups of peanuts makes a new player in the cookie butter game.  Technically I guess it’s a hybrid, part cookie butter, part nut butter.  Whatever, it’s good.

It’s a lot of fun to watch the different stages this goes through.  The cookies make a racket clanking around the food processor at first, then it sounds like coarse sand, then it turns into a giant ball that finally breaks down into a smooth deep blackish brown butter.  Then the nuts go in and it starts over again. 

The cookie butter will be quite liquid just after it’s made but it will firm up as it sits.  Use it for spreading, dunking, spoon it over ice cream, take it wherever your imagination leads you.

Cookies and Cream Peanut Butter
26 Oreo cookies (2 rows from the 14 oz package)
2 cups roasted peanuts (I used salted)

• Put the cookies in the bowl of a processor and process until completely smooth.  You’ll need a full sized machine for this job, the small bowl won’t fit all the cookies and nuts.  In my machine this took a full 5 minutes.  Pulse the machine and scrape down the sides if necessary.  It will be dry and grainy for the first couple of minutes, then it will become a giant ball of stiff dough.  Keep it going until the dough breaks down, and starts to loosen up.  Eventually you will get a smooth buttery texture.  When in doubt, keep processing.  5 minutes should be enough.
• Add in the peanuts, and repeat the process for another 5 minutes.  The butter is done when you have a sooth, creamy thick consistency.  When in doubt, keep processing.
• Pour the cookie/nut butter into a jar with a tight fitting lid and store at room temperature.

You know what they say about idle hands…

Have a fun weekend!

One year ago today—