High altitude cookie butter cupcakes, made with soft and fluffy brown sugar cinnamon cupcakes, filled with creamy cookie butter, frosted with cinnamon buttercream and topped with Lotus biscoff cookies.
You might also love these sweet potato biscoff pie bars, no churn biscoff banana ice cream, and chai tea spice cake with honey biscoff buttercream.
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What is Cookie Butter?
Cookie butter is a sweet, creamy spread made from ground speculoos cookies, a type of spiced Belgian cookie. It looks exactly like peanut butter or other nut butters, but tastes like cinnamon with hints of gingerbread. Lotus biscoff cookie butter (as well as the packages of Lotus biscoff cookies) is a familiar brand that is available at most major grocery stores.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Nut Free. Cookie butter is a great alternative to nut butters, although of course, it contains sugar and other ingredients that nut butters don’t usually contain. If you wanted to use peanut butter or another nut butter in today’s cookie butter cookies, then you can certainly do that, too.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Cookie Butter. One jar (14 ounces) is more than enough cookie butter both for the buttercream, and for filling the centers of the cupcakes.
- Lotus Biscoff Cookies. These look so pretty for decorating the tops of the cupcakes. I like to break them in half and top each cupcake with half a cookie, as well as sprinkle a few crumbs on top.
- Butter. Use unsalted butter in both the cupcakes and the buttercream, so that you can control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Eggs. Add moisture and strength to the cupcakes.
- Milk. Moisture. I prefer whole milk, but you can use any type of milk.
- Sugar. You’ll need both granulated sugar and dark brown sugar for the cupcakes, as well as powdered sugar for the buttercream.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the cake structure and strength.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the cupcakes rise as they bake.
- Cinnamon. A good amount of cinnamon in both the cake and the buttercream add plenty of cookie butter flavor and spice.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan, which should take about 5 minutes. You’ll know the butter is just about ready when a layer of foam forms on top of the butter and it stops hissing and splattering.Remove the pan from the heat, use a spatula to scrape the butter and all the browned bits into a bowl, and let cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the brown butter, eggs, milk, brown sugar and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon, then whisk until everything is well distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk just until smooth and combined.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.
Filling
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the centers of the cupcakes.
- Set aside 1/4 cup of the cookie butter for the buttercream.
- Warm the remaining cookie butter in the microwave for 30-40 seconds at 40% power, just until warmed enough that you can easily stir it.
- Fill a disposable piping bag with the warmed cookie butter, and snip off the tip. Fill the centers of the cupcakes with cookie butter.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and cinnamon. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined. Add the vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, until very light and fluffy.
- Add the 1/4 cup cookie butter, and mix for 1 more minute on low speed.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with tip 8B (6B or 1M also work well), fill half full with the buttercream, and pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Decorate the cupcakes with more cookie butter, Lotus biscoff cookies and cookie crumbs.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days.
I used tip 8B. Other favorite tips that would work well for this recipe are 6B and 1M.
You Might Also Like
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Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Cookie Butter Cupcakes
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Standard-Sized Muffin Pan
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Filling and Decorating
- 1 jar (14 oz) cookie butter
- Lotus biscoff cookies
Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup cookie butter
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan, which should take about 5 minutes. You'll know the butter is just about ready when a layer of foam forms on top of the butter and it stops hissing and splattering.Remove the pan from the heat, use a spatula to scrape the butter and all the browned bits into a bowl, and let cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the brown butter, eggs, milk, brown sugar and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon, then whisk until everything is well distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk just until smooth and combined.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.
Filling
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the centers of the cupcakes.
- Set aside 1/4 cup of the cookie butter for the buttercream.
- Warm the remaining cookie butter in the microwave for 30-40 seconds at 40% power, just until warmed enough that you can easily stir it.
- Fill a disposable piping bag with the warmed cookie butter, and snip off the tip. Fill the centers of the cupcakes with cookie butter.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and cinnamon. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined. Add the vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, until very light and fluffy.
- Add the 1/4 cup cookie butter, and mix for 1 more minute on low speed.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with tip 8B (6B or 1M also work well), fill half full with the buttercream, and pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Decorate the cupcakes with more cookie butter, Lotus biscoff cookies and cookie crumbs.
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