Speculoos (; ; ) is a

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

, originally manufactured in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, made from wheat flour, candy syrup (from

beet sugar Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

), fat, and sometimes

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

. Speculoos were developed in the 20th century around the area of

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

, as an alternative for people who could not afford Dutch speculaas. Belgian Speculoos includes fewer spices than Dutch speculaas, as the spices were much more expensive to import to Belgium than to the Netherlands. The origins of speculaas are much older. In the 2020s the names ''speculaas'' and ''speculoos'' are sometimes used interchangeably in Flanders.

Brands

In Europe, Lotus Speculoos is the most recognized brand. This manufacturer supplied the biscuits individually packaged to the catering industry. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the same company is branded as Lotus Biscoff, short for ''biscuit with coffee''. Company founder Jan Boone Sr. created the original recipe in 1932. In October 2020, Lotus Bakeries decided to omit the word "speculoos" from local markets, to harmonise their products with their Biscoff brand. Several chains of supermarkets have started their own product under their generic name. In the US, windmill or almond windmill cookies are mostly based on speculoos.

Spread or paste

Workers in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

traditionally made a sandwich in the morning with butter and speculaas or speculoos biscuits. This took on a spread-like consistency by lunchtime. In 2008, two competitors entered a contest on the Belgian television show, ''The Inventors (de Bedenkers)'', with a spread made from speculoos cookies — Els Scheppers, who reached the semi-finals, and the team of chef Danny De Mayer and Dirk De Smet, who were not selected as finalists. Spreads made from crushed Speculoos biscuits went into production by three separate companies and become popular. By 2007, several Belgian companies began marketing a speculoos paste, now available worldwide under various brands and names: as ''Speculla'', '' Cookie Butter'', and ''Biscoff Spread''. As a form of spreadable speculoos biscuits, the flavour is caramelized and

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger root, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly ...

-like, with a colour similar to

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...

and a consistency ranging from creamy to granular or crunchy. The spread consists of 60% crushed speculoos biscuits and vegetable oils. In the United States the grocery chain

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California, with 597 locations across the US. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California. In 1979, the chain was s ...

sells its own brand of cookie butter and cookie butter ice cream.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Biscuits Belgian desserts Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Brussels