Speculoos for the Rest of Us

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Happy St. Nicholas Day!

speculoos spice packet and 2 cookie molds.

Speculoos (Spekulatius or speculaas) is the official cookie of St. Nicholas Day. Speculoos are thin, crunchy cookies that are stamped or pressed into a mold. Speculoos are made with brown sugar, flour, butter and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger and white pepper) and sometimes with almond flour.

The Dutch/Belgian speculoos use little or no spice. Although their taste is reminiscent of gingerbread they are more of a soft caramel flavor. The Dutch and Belgian make speculoos for consumption on the eve of St. Nicholas Day.

Speculoos are also made in Germany. However they are made as more of a Christmas cookie. The German speculoos are full of spice and taste very similar to gingerbread cookies.Speculoos are available all year long, although in limited varieties. They are often served along side a cup of coffee in a cafe. These Belgian Speculoos, made by Lotus are our favorites.

Recently speculoos have gained in popularity. There is speculoos spread (think Nutella only different flavor,) speculoos ice cream and even white chocolate bars with bits of speculoos in it.

Haven't tried it, but imagine it is pretty tasty.

This spread is gaining popularity all over the globe. David Lebowitz called it one of the 10 things to bring home from Paris. A friend likes to melt it in the microwave and pour it over vanilla ice cream. Crunchy speculoos spread is now available. Having tried both (true confessions) I say skip the crunchy and stick with the original.

White chocolate bar. Looks a bit gimmicky, no?

Here is the speculoos recipe that came with my cookie molds. I haven't tried it as it contains nuts but it looks like a good recipe. Last year I used my molds with Martha's gingerbread recipe - German style speculoos. Ha.