Food and Drink: What is Speculoos?
So - speculoos? Weird name right? Is it a technical culinary technique? A rare produce item? A Harry Potter spell? None of the above! Its actually spiced shortcrust biscuit that hails from the Netherlands. If that isn't enough to tempt you - they also make speculoos cookie butter. You heard right folks - cookie butter! I recently discovered this delicious spread (and sure, I'm probably late to the game), but I thought it was worth blogging about anyway!
History
Speculoos is traditionally a Christmas cookie consumed around the St. Nicholas Feast in early December.
Spices used in speculoos are
,
,
,
,
and
.
The origin of the name has been traced back to the latin word
speculum,
which means mirror, and refers to the mirrored designs traditionally stamped into the cookies.
While cookies are fun and all, where did the tradition of "cookie butter" come from? In Belgium, local workers used to make sandwiches with speculoos cookies and butter, which turned into into a cookie paste by the time lunch rolled around. The corporations soon stepped in and speculoos butter was produced by several companies. Though, over time the competition was whittled down to two,
Lotus and Biscuiterie Willems. For my legal nerds, the two companies claimed they had exclusive rights to the recipe and initiated a patent lawsuit. In the end, the disputed patent was nullified because it was discovered the recipe was online all along.
How to use it?
When I first laid eyes on the speculoos cookie butter - one of my first thoughts was, what do you use this with?
Its the consistency of peanut butter, tastes like a cinnamon cookie, and literally has no nutritional value whatsoever... like not even frozen yogurt or natural peanut butter levels of nutrition where you can at least justify the calorie splurge.
Some pairings you may consider (though feel free to leave some suggestions in the comments!):
- On an english muffin, toast or really any baked good (except maybe apple pie, that may be too weird)
- Speculoos and banana sandwich, or
- Mixed in your favorite brownie receipe
Where to buy it?
I have seen speculoos cookie butter on sale at both Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Le Pain Quotidien. As per tradition (though I'm assuming because I haven't double checked the prices) the better value is likely at Trader Joe's. But beware - I heard Trader Joe's is running low on supply due to the item's growing popularity. When you are able to get your hands on some - be sure to share your recipes!
Cheers!