Speculoos (sold as Biscoff in the United States and the United Kingdom) is a biscuit originally manufactured in Belgium. Although the name is similar to

speculaas Speculaas (, , , , ) is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit baked with speculaas spices. Speculaas is usually flat in the shape of a picture and is especially popular around the feast of St. Nicholas and during the time of Advent. The old ...

, speculoos is a different product. The biscuits are made without the mixture of

spices A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices are ...

used in speculaas. The main ingredients of speculoos are wheat flour, candy syrup (from

beet sugar A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wit ...

), fat, and sometimes cinnamon. Fewer spices are involved in the process of making Belgian speculoos compared to the Dutch speculaas, as the spices were much more expensive to import to Belgium as opposed to the Netherlands. Speculoos was developed in the 20th century around the area of Verviers and made as an alternative for people who could not afford Dutch speculaas. 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''. In October 2020, Lotus Bakeries decided to omit the word "speculoos" from local markets, to harmonise their 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 term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

traditionally made a sandwich in the morning with butter and speculaas or speculoos cookies. This would develop into 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 cookies 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 cookies, the flavor is caramelized and gingerbread-like, with a color similar to peanut butter and a consistency ranging from creamy to granular or crunchy. The spread consists of 60% crushed speculoos cookies along with vegetable oils. In the United States, the California-based and German-owned variety grocery store chain

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...

sells their own brand of cookie butter, a thick buttery paste made up of the cookies, as well as their own cookie butter ice cream.

References

{{Reflist Biscuits