After coming across speculoos spread in Belgium I have been obsessed! This ice cream is gorgeous and creamy, packed with speculoos spices, and of course I swirled some speculoos spread through the finished product. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Recipe adapted from: Three Bears Melbourne
Ingredients
330mL milk
1 vanilla pod, split
4 cm length of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced finely
5 whole cloves
1 cardamom pod
200g dark brown sugar
200mL pure cream (not thickened with gelatine)
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla essence
Speculoos spice
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Approx. 3/4 cup speculoos spread (a.k.a. speculaas, Biscoff, cookie butter) - for swirling into the ice cream
Method
1. Heat milk until just above body temperature, ensuring that it does not boil. I did this in the microwave but you can use a saucepan on the stove if you like.
2. Add the vanilla pod, sliced ginger, cloves and cardamom pod to the milk. (I didn't have a vanilla or cardamom pod on hand so I just used the fresh ginger and the whole cloves). Let the mixture infuse for 30-45 minutes.
3. When the milk is nearly done infusing, combine the brown sugar and cream in a medium saucepan. Heat the mixture over a medium heat and stir until the sugar has melted. When the mixture is smooth, remove it from the heat.
4. Strain the milk to remove the spices, and whisk the egg yolks in.
5. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the milk mixture into the sugar and cream mixture. The constant whisking is to prevent the egg yolks from cooking.
6. Return the mixture to medium heat and cook until it starts to thicken, about 10 minutes. The mixture should coat the back of a spatula/wooden spoon.
7. Remove the thickened mixture from the heat and stir the vanilla essence in.
8. Set the mixture aside to cool down to room temperature.
9. Add the dry speculoos spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom) to the cooled mixture, stir until combined. You can taste test at this point and add more spices to suit your tastes if you like!
10. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn as per the manufacturer's instructions. I churned mine for about 30 minutes.
(If you don't have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into a freezer-safe container and freeze for about 4 hours. When almost fully set, take the ice cream out of the freezer and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy, then put back into the freezer. You can do this another time after a few more hours of freezing if the ice cream is not set enough.)
11. With a knife or spatula, stir bite sized amounts of speculoos spread through the ice cream. When frozen, the speculoos is really hard so make sure that the chunks aren't too big!
12. Decant the ice cream into a bucket or tin and place in the freezer to set fully.
Enjoy!
These buns are delightfully soft and chock full of delicious speculoos spread.
Recipe adapted from: The Imaginariyum
Ingredients
125mL buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast
3 tbsp white sugar
1 egg
250g flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter (room temperature)
1 cup speculoos spread (a.k.a. speculaas, cookie butter)
Optional - about 1/4 cup chopped apple
Method
1. Heat the buttermilk until lukewarm, then mix the yeast in and leave to activate. It should start to froth up.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the buttermilk and yeast mixture with the sugar, egg, flour and salt. Mix until combined.
3. Add the butter and mix until it's been incorporated. Continue to knead the dough with the mixer on low speed for about 10 minutes. The dough will be a bit sticky.
4. Place the dough inside a bowl greased with butter. Cover it with a tea towel or cling wrap and let it rise for about 1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.
5. After the dough has risen, lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough out into a large rectangle, so that the dough is quite thin.
6. Spread the speculoos across the dough. If desired, you can sprinkle other fillings such as chopped apple or nuts on top.
7. Roll the dough up, starting with the short edge. Pinch the seam closed and cut the log into about 12 even slices.
8. There are a few options for baking these buns - you can arrange them in a brownie pan for a more rustic approach, or butter a muffin tin and place each roll into a separate cup (this will give you lovely round buns!)
9. Cover the buns with a tea towel or cling wrap and let them rise for another 30 minutes.
10. Preheat your oven to 175C (350F). When the buns have risen, bake them for about 15-20 minutes.
11. Let the buns cool. If you've baked them in a muffin tin, after they've cooled for 10 minutes, remove the buns from the tin by loosening the edges with a table knife, then place them on a wire rack to cool further.
These are great when warm from the oven! If you have leftovers the next day, heating them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds will rejuvenate them and bring back that just-baked feeling.
Enjoy!
I discovered speculoos spread while travelling in Belgium - and truly my life was empty before that day! Speculoos/speculaas are spiced biscuits similar to gingerbread, and the spread is mostly made up of the crushed biscuits. It's absolutely delicious.
These cocoa brownies are liberally swirled with speculoos spread. They're chewy, dense and sweet - so good!
In Australia, I buy my speculoos online from It's All Dutch To Me (search for 'Lotus'). I have also found a different brand at Aldi but I find that less reliable as it's not always in store!
Recipe adapted from: Alice Medrich via Butter Baking
Ingredients - 20 cm (8 inch) square tin
225g butter
450g white sugar
110g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
120g flour
3/4 cup Speculoos spread (also known as cookie butter or Biscoff)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C (325F).
2. Line a 20 cm (8 inch) baking tin with baking paper.
3. Melt the butter in the microwave or over a double boiler.
4. Mix the sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla essence into the melted butter.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until the mixture is combined.
6. Fold the flour into the batter then beat it with a spatula or wooden spoon for 40 strokes.
7. Pour the batter into the lined baking tin and smooth out the top.
8. Drop tablespoons of Speculoos over the top of the batter then swirl it in with a knife. Don't break the blobs up too much but make sure that there will be Speculoos in every slice!
9. Bake the brownies for about 35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
10. Let the brownies cool (I usually leave them in the fridge for a bit, it makes it easier to cut them up) - finally, cut the brownies into the size of your choosing.
Enjoy!
