Cookie butter brown sugar streusel bars

A friend of mine made these and told me that they were awesome....so I had to make them.  I even had the cookie butter at home, but it had expired, so I had to wait a little while until I made it back to Trader Joe's to pick some up.  In the mean time, I did come across some Biscoff butter at Target, but I knew I liked the Trader Joe's Speculoos butter (I used it a while ago when I made the chocolate cups), so I just went with that one.

The best thing about these bars?  Besides the fact that they are totally delicious?!  They are a one bowl recipe!

 

The bar is basically a decadent brown sugar blondie with the addition of cookie butter, topped with a cinnamony streusel topping, and then drizzled with more melted cookie butter.  Did I mention that they were decadent?  And heavenly?  And delicious? 

And just an FYI, I made these in a 9x9 inch pan (simply because that's what I have), and they ended up baking for 28 minutes.

Cookie Butter Brown Sugar Streusel Bars
From Averie Cooks

Ingredients:

For the bars:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (you could also use browned butter)

1 large egg

1 cup brown sugar, packed (I used light; dark may be used for more robust flavor)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

heaping 1/3 cup smooth Cookie Butter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

pinch salt, optional and to taste

 

For the streusel topping:

 

1/4 cup unsalted butter (half of one stick), softened

1/2 cup whole rolled old-fashioned oats (not quick cook or instant)

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed (I used light; dark may be used for more robust flavor)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1+ teaspoon cinnamon, to taste (add to taste.  She used 2 teaspoons, I used a little more)

 

2 tablespoons Cookie Butter, melted for final drizzle after baking

 

Directions:

 

Make the bars

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line an 8-by-8-inch pan (or in my case, a 9x9 pain) with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray.
Set aside.

In a large microwave safe bowl, melt 1/2 cup butter.
Allow the butter to cool momentarily so you don't scramble the egg.
Add the egg, 1 cup brown sugar, vanilla, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and whisk or stir until smooth.
Add the heaping 1/3 cup Cookie Butter, and stir to incorporate.
Add the flour, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don't overmix.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
Set pan aside.

Make the topping.

In the same bowl you made the batter in (provided you scraped it fairly clean with a spatula), add all the streusel ingredients except the 2 tablespoons cookie butter for final drizzle post-baking, and work the mixture with a spoon, a pastry cutter, or your hands until small pebbles form.
Sprinkle topping evenly over base layer (it looks like there's quite a bit, but it seeps in during baking....also, it looks like less when you use a bigger pan ;-)).

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until center is set and not wiggly and the edges are set and have pulled away slightly from sides of pan. It will be hard to determine how set the center is because it's hard to see what's going on underneath the streusel topping and edges are the best clues. Testing for doneness in the center with a toothpick is another clue; toothpick should come out mostly clean.

After bars emerge from the oven, heat 2 tablespoons of Cookie Butter in the microwave to melt, about 15 seconds.
Immediately and evenly drizzle Cookie Butter over the top.
Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Store bars in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature, or up to 3 months in the freezer.