Speculoos Cookie Butter

Speculoos Cookie Butter

This past December (12/2011), some friends blessed Gayla (my lovely wife) and me with a weekend away, just the two of us.

Included with the 2 nights at a hotel and meals was a beautiful basket filled with all kinds of amazing goodies.

In this basket were a variety of wonderful treats: cookies, specialty popcorn, crackers, cheeses etc. So many delightful things to eat! A number of the items were delicious things that I had never had before. Things like Humboldt Fog Cheese.  It is an amazing cheese.

  

www.cypressgrovechevre.com/cheeses/ripened-cheeses/humboldt-fog

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Fog 

Cookie Butter?

The thing that I liked the most out of that gift basket, was this crazy Cookie Butter. We saw the jar, briefly read the front label and wondered what this stuff was. Was it “butter?”, or “Was it some kind of peanut butter?”

We opened it, tasted it, and we were blown away. It was then that we read the back of the label.

“All you you have to do is taste it to understand.” So true.

This a spread (no peanuts) that vaguely reminds me of a very mild gingerbread. It also kind of reminds me of a cracker that I had as a very young child.

You can get it at Trader Joe’s. www.traderjoes.com

Go get some and see for yourself.

So How Do I Eat it?

I have tried Cookie Butter with a number of different things. Here are my suggestions-

#1 Put it on waffles,

#2 Eat it with a spoon, right out of the jar,

#3 Put it on a crispy tasteless boring cracker like Kavli Crispy Thins.  www.kavli.com/en/Pages/KavliGroup        www.internaturalfoods.com/brands/kavli

Alone, these crackers are pretty tasteless and bland. Nasty actually.

However…spread a little Cookie Butter on them and wow!, these crackers become a wonderful delivery vehicle for the Cookie Butter.

I tried a number of crackers and cookies with the Cookie Butter, Including Nilla Wafers. Most crackers and cookies had too much flavor of their own and that flavor would overwhelm the Cookie Butter.

The boring Kavli Crispy Thins worked perfectly. Having a mostly tasteless crunch to go with the Cookie Butter is nice. As an added bonus my wife Gayla thinks that the Kavli Crispy Thins are healthy, and she likes seeing them in the cupboard. FYI – I keep the Cookie Butter in my desk drawer – left hand side.

  

Please do not tell anyone in my family where I keep the Cookie Butter. Since they don’t follow me on Facebook and don’t generally read my blogs, if they find out that I still have that jar of Cookie Butter, I will know that you told them! I am still trying figure out how to turn Family into Fans!

I would keep the Cookie Butter in the cupboard. However… I have two teenage boys and things like Nutella disappear overnight when I buy it and, bring it home. I keep the Cookie Butter hidden and once in a while, I enjoy a little bit of it, with some Earl Grey Creme tea.

That’s it,

Hold the phone! That’s not it!

A friend of mine, Katrina Emery, has a wonderful blog entitled The Penny Farthing .

Until recently Katrina lived in Portland, Oregon. Currently she is living in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Guess what they have in the Netherlands?

Katrina recently put up a blog post about the “speculaas” she enjoys in Amsterdam. Check it out, it is a great read!  www.katriniella.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/i-love-speculaas

Okay, Now that is it!!

Steven Shomler