Next Level Graham Cracker Butter from Scratch

Graham Cracker Butter – deliciously smooth graham cracker butter that you can use as a spread, a filling, or topping!

Graham Cracker Butter from Scratch

As I was creating my new Graham Slam Cake (to be posted later this week), I wanted to mimic an element of graham cracker I’ve had in a couple ice cream flavors – a graham cracker swirl. From what I recall of the ice cream from Handle’s Ice Cream, the graham cracker swirl is a buttery, smooth, cinnamon cracker spread that’s utterly delicious and unforgettable.

I love graham crackers – especially dipped in milk! So I knew this cake would be a new favorite. I didn’t know, however, that this graham cracker butter would be the real show stopper! For the cake, I use the graham cracker butter in between the layers, swirled in vanilla buttercream (kind of like the ice cream!). I expected this element of the cake would be fun and unique. What I quickly learned is that this graham cracker butter completely stands on its own and deserves and entire post dedicated to its goodness!

How to Make Homemade Graham Cracker Butter

What is graham cracker butter? Think cookie butter but with graham crackers! This spread can be used just like cookie butter or even peanut butter – but we’ll talk about that in a minute. For now, let’s talk about how we make graham cracker butter.

Ingredients and Tools You Need to Make Graham Cracker Butter:

• Food processor or high powered blender
• Graham crackers
• Water
• Honey
• Butter
• Cinnamon
• Lots of dipping options!

Don’t let the water scare you! We need the water to help soften the crackers. But first, you’ll pulse the crackers and cinnamon in your food processor or blender until it resemble fine sand. Once you have a sand-like consistency, you’ll add the water and pulse a few times. After the crumbs are wet, stream in the butter and the honey. The butter adds flavor and the honey is a binding agent. Pulse a little longer and you’ll start to create a silky smooth consistency. If you feel like it’s not getting spreadable enough, just add another tablespoon or two of water. That’s it. Simple, right?

How to Use Graham Cracker Butter

Now let’s talk about how to use graham cracker butter. The answer? Put it on EVERYTHING!

Haha. Okay, maybe not everything… but you can certainly put this on or in a lot of things! Here’s a list of my favorite pairings for the graham cracker butter:

• Use it in my new Graham Slam Cake
• Swirl it in your homemade ice cream
• Dip apples in it
• Spread it on toast
• Drizzle it on oatmeal with bananas and chopped nuts

I feel like the more I think about it, the more ideas I’m coming up with for how to use this Graham Cracker Butter.

You’ll find the recipe at the bottom of the post, but before we get to that, I wanted to share with you a few other cookie butters I tested out, along with their recipes and my thoughts.

How to Make Other Cookie Butters

Homemade Speculoos Cookie Butter

As I wandered the cookie aisle at the grocery store, I couldn’t help but wonder how these simple ingredients (i.e. water, honey, and butter) would play out with other types of cookies. I grabbed several and did a little test.

First up, homemade Speculoos Cookie Butter. This type of cookie butter is easy to find at the stores, but I thought it would be fun to try making a homemade version. The result? A cinnamon-caramel like consistency that’s to-die-for! This spread would be delicious on toast and would make another yummy fall apple dip.

Homemade Cookie Butter Recipe

• Pulse 20 Speculoos or Biscoff cookies in your food processor or blender until the cookies resemble sand.
• Add ¼ cup water and pulse for 30 seconds to ensure all the crumbs are wet.
• With the blender or food processor running, stream in 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon honey.
• Pulse until smooth and creamy.
• For a crunchy cookie butter, throw in a few extra cookies at the end and pulse a few times to break them up.

Circus Animal Cookie Butter

I couldn’t resist testing out the homemade cookie butter method on my childhood favorite cookie – the Circus Animal Cookies. While I had high hopes for this one, it didn’t turn out quite as I expected. I think the pink and white chocolate coating on the cookies made it a little more difficult to get that silky smooth consistency I was able to get with the Graham Cracker Butter or Cookie Butter. Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious! I just don’t think it’s as versatile as the other two cookie butters.

• Pulse 50 animal cookies in your food processor or blender until the cookies resemble sand (or as close to it as you can).
• Add ¼ cup water and pulse for 30 seconds to ensure all the crumbs are wet.
• With the blender or food processor running, stream in 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons honey.
• Pulse until smooth.
• For a crunchy cookie butter, throw in a few extra cookies at the end and pulse a few times to break them up.

Oreo Cookie Butter

After testing out the butter, honey, and water, I was curious to see if any ingredient alternatives would work. I decided to use coconut oil in place of butter with the Oreos. The flavor turned out to be much like an Almond Joy, which is so yummy. However, the consistency didn’t turn out as smooth. You’ll notice more texture in the picture below. I actually think if you want to make an Oreo Cookie Butter, it would be better to use chocolate graham crackers.

• Pulse 36 Oreo cookies in your food processor or blender until the cookies resemble sand (or as close to it as you can).
• Add ¼ cup water and pulse for 30 seconds to ensure all the crumbs are wet.
• With the blender or food processor running, stream in ¼ melted coconut oil and 1 tablespoon honey.
• Pulse until smooth.
• For a crunchy cookie butter, throw in a few extra cookies at the end and pulse a few times to break them up.

While the texture wasn’t as smooth as the other cookie butters, and I’d definitely try using chocolate graham crackers next time, the Almond Joy flavor of this cookie butter is super good and could be a fun ice cream mix in.

For the full Graham Cracker Butter recipe, scroll below.