Speculoos Millionaire's shortbread

Here is another recipe using the divine spreadable biscuit. Please excuse my language, but holy crap these things taste amazing! The recipe here is very simple - shortbread base, a can of dulce de leche mixed with a jar of Speculoos spread and then a layer of your choice of chocolate.

I made half with milk chocolate and the other half with dark chocolate. In my opinion, the dark is by far the best. I have given out samples of these delicous chunks and had great feedback. If you have a jar of Speculoos lying around, I could not recommend a better way to use it! The dulce de leche marries so well with it. The Speculoos taste gives the treat a massive boost.

Yummmm!!!

Even MORE Speculoos!

Yes, the Honeybun has surprised me with yet more of the gorgeous spiced spreadable biscuit!

This time he has not only given me a jar of the delicious Speculoos spread, but he has also given me the new Crunchy version to try... now he is just spoiling me :)

I actually received this wonderful gift a few weeks ago and have been slacking a little on the blogging front (I actually think it's fair to say that other posts became more of a priority!)... so a fair amount of both Speculoos spreads have been eaten on toast. However, with the remainder, I hope to conjure up some mouthwatering recipes. At the moment I am hoping to make a Speculoos Millionaire's shortbread. Watch this space and see if it proves to be a success... or not!

Speculoos and lemon cheesecake

So......here is another delicious treat I have produced using some of my 300 Speculoos biscuits.

I chose a lemon cheesecake body to go with the spiced caramel biscuits.

The cheesecake body was made with lemon zest, lemon juice, creme fraiche, sugar, eggs and cream cheese. The base was made simply of butter and crushed Speculoos biscuits.

I completed the cheesecake with a dollop of Speculoos spread, a couple of fresh raspberries and a sprinkle of cocoa.

The buttery biscuit base was soft, but still had some crunchy parts. The lemon body was creamy and zesty. The Speculoos spread and raspberry completed the cheesecake, it would not have been as good without them! I also enjoyed the hint of chocolate from the cocoa. A delicate collection of flavours.

Speculoos and Kahlua tiramisu

As I said I would, in my previous post, I have began experimenting with my large number of Speculoos biscuits.

My first experiment consists of Speculoos tiramisus. I have Kahlua in the cupboard, and I thought this would be perfect for this recipe.

I have consumed a fair amount of my Speculoos biscuits dipped in strong hot coffee. The caramelised spicey biscuit soaked in coffee provides a delicious wet crunch and powerful flavour, so I knew these would go well in a tiramisu.

The spiciness of the biscuits gave the tiramisu a twist to it's usual flavours. The moussey part was very light in order to smoothen the pungency of the espresso, and take the edge off of the sweetness of the biscuits and Kahlua.

I think I may make a bigger batch of these again soon as they proved to be a... grrrrreat success!


Yum!

Lots and lots and LOTS of biscuits

300 to be exact, although far less now! My very kind and generous friend Ant(honey) surprised me with yet another gift, the evening I returned home to Woking, after completion of my second year of university.

This gift was not the Speculoos spread Anthony had previously given me, but the biscuits Speculoos spread is made from!

I must now conjure some Speculoos-biscuit-containing recipes. Firstly, I'm thinking of making a cheesecake with a Speculoos biscuit base. Perhaps these would go down well in a tiramisu? Sit tight and the future shall reveal!

Nutella, Speculoos and peanut butter cupcakes

My three favourite spreads incorporated into cupcakes. Nutella-and-Speculoos and Nutella-and-peanut-butter. I had minimal Speculoos left so only managed to make a couple with the Speculoos and was also running low on the peanut butter! The Nutella, however, was abundant in my kitchen so used this bad boy in both types of cupcake. I also used Nutella to frost them.

Unfortunately I can't exactly post a recipe for these on here, due to the fact that I actually guessed the quantities of each ingredient because there are no scales in my house in Leeds! I used a basic chocolate cake recipe for the cake mixture, then literally added a small spoon of Nutella with a smidgen of Speculoos or peanut butter. I then added a little more cake mix on top and baked until they looked as though they were done!

The filling of the cupcakes seemed to have sunk during the baking process, probably due to its high density compared with the cake mix. The first cupcake below is Nutella and Speculoos, the second is Nutella and peanut butter.

Speculoos has a stronger flavour than peanut butter, so although there was a smaller portion, there was still a significant taste. I think that personally, I preferred the peanut butter cupcakes, but loved both.

Perfect for an afternoon treat with your favourite cup of tea or coffee. Hazelnut coffee or Earl Grey for me, please!

This last photograph may seem completely unrelated to the rest of the post, but I made these cupcakes for my friend Hana's birthday and this was the card I bought for her.

Hahaha....!

Speculoos - the spreadable biscuit

Have you ever been to the hairdressers and been served your requested hot beverage with a little biscuit in a red wrapper on the side? If you have, then you will understand what this spread is! Speculoos was introduced to me by my wonderful friend Ant(honey) Cornish - in the photo shown below. When I was living at Bodington Halls in Leeds last year, I received a package from Anthony in an iPhone box. Inside was not an iPhone, but a new jar of this incredible spread and a note saying "Enjoy this spread onto warm crusty white bread, delicious."

Thanks honey :)

When I first tried it I was baffled. I had never tried anything like this before. Was it a sesame seed spread like tahini with caramelised sugar? Was it made from some sort of nut? No. It is an exquisite spread made from BISCUITS!

From those biscuits that I used to get with my hot beverage at the hairdressers.

The texture of Speculoos is very smooth, similar to that of smooth peanut butter. It has a caramelised sugary spicy flavour that reminds me, slightly, of gingerbread.

That first jar didn't last a week! I introduced it to many of my friends from my halls and it went down brilliantly with everyone. Most of the jar was consumed as it came, on my finger, yummy :)

Anthony had informed me that it was a Dutch spread made from those biscuits. He brought some back after visiting his family in Holland over Christmas and was incredibly generous in giving me this other jar! My mum recently went to Amsterdam and I requested she brought some Speculoos back with her. She did and also brought back some "De Ruijter" which are sprinkles that go on top on the Speculoos once it has been spread onto freshly toasted bread.

Here is a photo of my friend Hannah modelling how to eat Speculoos and De Ruijter on toast!

Hopefully at some point in the near future I will try using Speculoos in a recipe. Speculoos cookies, cupcakes, truffles....? Watch this space.