The classic Nutter Butter made better? Thomas Keller’s recipe consists of a delicate buttery peanut cookie with oats and chopped roasted peanuts and is paired with a peanut butter buttercream. Making this cookie is a bit more time consuming as you have to prepare the dough, chill it for at least 2 hours and then proceed to roll, cut and bake. I did the recipe over the course of two days and it didn’t seem so daunting.
The dough will be very sticky but once it’s chilled for 2 hours I had no problem rolling it out into a 1/4″ thickness. In fact at times I got it down to 1/8″ because I wanted the cookies to be crisp. My recommendation for minimal sticking is make sure to continually flour the work surface and roll quickly. There is a lot of butter in this dough so you can re-roll the dough several times without affecting the outcome of the cookie.
Thomas Keller recommends a 3 1/4″ round cutter and for some reason I thought I was supposed to use fluted but that was for the TKO. Nevertheless, the shape is cute and whenever I can use my Martha Stewart turquoise cutters I’m happy. I only did two sandwiches at the 3″ size. The rest I did using a 1 7/8″ cutter, a more manageable size for consumption without feeling guilty. The Better Nutter that is sold at Bouchon Bakery I believe is even larger, closer to 4″.
The downside to making petite cookies is the dough makes A LOT. I cut out extra, lay them on a sheet and froze them. It was a little difficult to cut through the oats and didn’t make for as clean of an edge on the cookie. I must have missed something because the oat pieces stayed whole but I think they are supposed to break down more in the mixer, which I would have preferred.
If your dough is particularly soft after cutting them out, you can put the sheet in the fridge to set for a few minutes. I baked batches unchilled and chilled and did not notice any difference. The room was cold though and I didn’t overwork the dough so use your best judgment.
Onto the delicious filling. I had buttercream already made, which made this recipe much easier to execute. I warmed the mixing bowl and re-whipped the buttercream in the mixer. It will be grainy but be patient and it will come together, thick and smooth. Then I added the peanut butter.
A large Better Nutter piped with the filling.
The buttercream is a little loose with the addition of the peanut butter but once you assemble, let the cookies sit for a couple hours in a cold place and the filling will harden.
More Bouchon Bakery cookbook recipes to come in the new year!
I thought this cookie was relatively easy to make if the components are done ahead and in stages. Anything done homemade will be appreciated more and thus more satisfying to eat than something store bought however I do miss the crispness of the Nutter Butter. Perhaps I should bake the cookies longer to get them really firm but these were more delicate than firm. The buttercream though is fantastic. It is lighter than the store bought cookie so it is not as rich. It complements the cookie well. Best eaten the day of since the moisture from the filling will soften the cookies.
Week 4 of the Bouchon Bakery Book Project
Read the Project recap on the Better Nutters
Bake with us!
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