Tripping over Speculoos
Well, hello there. Been a while, it would appear. I took a bit of a trip to Switzerland to hang out with my parents, and then traveled a little further east to head towards Vegan Oktoberfest 2009 in Vienna with Melanie, Luciana, Bazu, Jojo, and so many other awesome people that I can’t even wrap my head around having finally gotten to put lovely faces onto PPK usernames yet. Lots of good foods were enjoyed (check out Jojo’s post to know where to go!), lots of good time was had, and lots of walking was done. What more can a person ask for? I must confess I didn’t whip out my camera as much as a blogger should, but I was too entranced with other stuff to focus (hardy-har) on taking pictures.
Switching gears to Speculoos spread now. Veg_Eric (on the PPK) is Super Dude. No, wait: Super Speculoos Dude. He brought a whole buncha jars to the meetup and handed them to pretty much every lucky person that came across his path. How’s that for awesome?
So the very afternoon I came back to Switzerland, regardless of the lack of sleep and resulting grumpiness, I just had to make stuffs out of it. I started with cookies, continued with ice cream (recipe to come), and…I think that’s it?
Here’s the super simple recipe turning a spread made of cookies into new cookies (my brain, my brain! it hurts!) that are slightly crispy but mostly chewy. Oh, wait: if you don’t have access to Lotus Speculoos spread, you can order it in the States too, as Marco (who works for the American version of the company that makes the exact same spread, Biscoff) pointed out to me after I asked for heeeeeelp to keep my newly found addiction going. No worries: while it is currently and unsurprisingly out of stock, it will be back for sale on October 19th, from what Marco told me.
And if you really have no luck finding it, Mihl brilliantly came up with a recipe to make her own. You’re pretty much covered, then. Covered in lusciously spiced spread. (Kinky?)
Speculoos Spread Cookies 1/3 cup (100 g) Speculoos spread
1/4 cup (48 g) Sucanat
1/4 cup (48 g) evaporated cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch fine sea salt
1/2 cup (63 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons (45 ml) nondairy milk of your choicePreheat oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats, such as Silpat.
In a large bowl, combine spread with sugars, cinnamon and salt with the tip of your fingers until well combined.
Add flour and baking powder and keep on using your fingers until combined. Still using your fingers, add milk, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) at a time, until the cookie dough is moistened enough to hold together well.
Pack 1 heaping tablespoon (30 g) of dough per cookie and place on prepared sheets. There’s no need to flatten the dough as the cookies will spread just fine on their own as they bake. Be sure to just place 5 cookies per sheet so that they have room to “grow”.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden around the edges.
Leave the cookies alone for a few minutes on the baking sheets once they are out of the oven so that they firm up. Let cool on wire rack.Yield: 10 cookies
Kelly said,
October 13, 2009 at 5:52 am
Glad to see you are back! I was starting to worry you had somehow dropped off my google reader even though I knew you were on vacation. I always look forward to your gorgeous pictures and inventive recipes.
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Rosa said,
October 13, 2009 at 5:58 am
I’m glad you enjoyed your holidays!
Those cookies look very pretty and so tempting!
Cheers,
Rosa
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VeggieGirl said,
October 13, 2009 at 6:07 am
WELCOME BACK!!! Sounds like a fun trip; and that spread is very intriguing…
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Jes said,
October 13, 2009 at 6:10 am
Oh my, more Speculoos goodness!
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Marianthi said,
October 13, 2009 at 6:19 am
Thankyou! I’ve just brought two jars of the spread back from Brussels and I was looking for something to do with it apart from dunking my finger and eating it.
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Whitney @ Lettuce Love said,
October 13, 2009 at 6:42 am
Welcome back, sounds like a great trip! Those spread cookies look wonderful!
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The Voracious Vegan said,
October 13, 2009 at 6:44 am
Gorgeous photo and delicious recipe! Glad you are back.
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Goddess of Cake said,
October 13, 2009 at 7:12 am
Well, isn’t this a surprise! Bazu and Luciana were just over at my place in Helsinki like week ago.. and now they are here in this blog posting! I had no idea they were going to a blogger meeting! It’s a small world, right ;)
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Nora said,
October 13, 2009 at 8:02 am
Sounds like you had a great time! I just love the idea of cookies flavored like ground-up cookies.
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Erica from Cooking for Seven said,
October 13, 2009 at 8:02 am
What an interesting idea! Making a spread from cookies, then using the spread to make cookies! As always, love the use of sucanat. Lovely photo.
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Marion said,
October 13, 2009 at 9:09 am
Au bon goût de Spéculoos je suis sure que c’est un délice avec un petit café :D
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Mihl said,
October 13, 2009 at 9:11 am
Yes, VegEric is the superdude…and of course you would turn this spread back into cookies.
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Josiane said,
October 13, 2009 at 9:16 am
Cookie-spread cookies? That sounds like the most delicious example of coming full circle ever! It also looks like it: your cookies really look like the most perfectly crispy, yummy little bits of heaven.
I’m so glad you’re having a good time! Enjoy the rest of your vacation, sweetie! <3
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Bianca- Vegan Crunk said,
October 13, 2009 at 9:17 am
I so need to make these!!! I made Mihl’s version a few weeks ago, I’ve been eating it on toast and mixed in with oats (pure heaven!). But I still have quite a bit left. I’ll have to give these a try. Sounds sooooo good!
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Jojo said,
October 13, 2009 at 10:22 am
Ooooh Speculoos cookies! They look super delicious. It was awesome to meet you, we’ll have to hang out again one day because I had loads of fun!
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Shelby said,
October 13, 2009 at 12:46 pm
WELCOME BACK!!!
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A-K said,
October 13, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Welcome back, Celine! It sounds like you had an awesome time in Europe. I look forward to any and all posts about anything by you as usual :)
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Afsoon said,
October 13, 2009 at 2:01 pm
hello there stranger! Back from vaycay and you’re up and running a new recipe. Oh, how I miss you so
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Alice said,
October 13, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Great come back recipe! Good you hear you enjoyed your holiday ;)
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Manu said,
October 14, 2009 at 3:49 am
a vegan octoberfest in vienna and i didn’t know anything about it? oh dear, how sad i am *sniff. i should definitely work on some vegan bonding…
hope you had a great time! best wishes for a happy autumn***
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Julia said,
October 14, 2009 at 4:11 am
wow how interesting! And thank you for posting the speculoos spread recipe :)
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Melisser said,
October 14, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Oh, hell yes! I have a few jars kicking around here & I LOVE it! I can’t wait for the ice cream recipe!
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veggie wedgie said,
October 15, 2009 at 4:57 am
Vegan Octoberfest? Oh I’m jealous!
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T said,
October 15, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Haha, just discovered this stuff in Belgium. I had no idea what it was until it was featured on Seitan is my Motor.
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Tessa said,
October 16, 2009 at 1:44 pm
i can’t wait for the ice cream recipe! i LOVE speculoos! i brought some back from holland when i went there, and made mine into cupcakes and frosting!! mmm. i posted about them on my blog, if you want to check it out!
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Susan said,
October 16, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Sounds like a fantastic time is being had!
I still am yet to try any Speculoos. Probably time I should remedy that.
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Mo said,
October 17, 2009 at 8:31 am
I feel like I’m missing something because I’ve never had Speculoos. This is my new obsession: finding the stuff.
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bazu said,
October 18, 2009 at 10:52 am
it was SO awesome finally getting to meet you! although, in my mind, we’ve already met and have known each other for years and years…. and yes, veg_eric really is the awesomest.
I’m ashamed to say that currently in my pantry are 5 jars of biscoff spread and 7 jars of speculoos (2 crunchy, 5 smooth). am I … insane?
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bunnycucina said,
October 19, 2009 at 7:36 am
Welcome back. I want Oktoberfest bier and lots of these cookies!
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Nic said,
October 22, 2009 at 11:10 pm
You were here in Switzerland and didn’t tell me that!?! I’m in shock!
Just kidding!! ;)
Hope you had a great time here and if you’re here next time, maybe we can meet up?! Would be fun, since I read your blog for a long time now!! :D
I’ll have to try this cookies!! My co-workers and bosses would loooove them!! Thanks!!
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have cake, will travel » Speculating over Ice Cream said,
October 26, 2009 at 3:59 am
[...] half (aka half soy creamer, half milk alternative) 3/4 cup (225 g) Speculoos spread (or look back here for Speculoos-related info) 1/4 cup (48 g) Sucanat Pinch fine sea [...]
madeline said,
November 30, 2009 at 9:00 am
i can’t believe i’ve only just found this! i’m from the UK, and everytime i or anyone i know goes through belgium they grab me speculoos to feed my addictio. I’ve been finishing jar after jar off with only a teaspoon, but this is exciting. cookies and icecream here i come :)
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Celine Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 12:35 am
I am envious of you getting a pretty much unlimited stock of Speculoos. just ignore that green-with-envy look I’m sporting.
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