speculoos cookie butter

What's better than a delicious cookie that is like the lovechild of a Digestive biscuit and a gingerbread cookie?  Why, the same cookie in a spreadable form, so it can be smeared on and enjoyed along with something else (like another cookie)!  

I have been keeping an eye out for speculoos cookie butter since I first read about it in the New York Times food section months ago.  I could never find it in any of the local grocery stores around here.  In fact, even now, I can't find the "original" speculoos cookie butter produced by Lotus Bakeries.  Instead, I settled for this version by Penotti that I picked up at Superstore.

The speculoos cookie is a shortcrust cookie that originates from Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.  The cookiues are thin, slightly browned, and are mildly flavoured by spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger, among others.  The cookie butter essentially contains crushed up speculoos cookies, more sugar, and an emulsifier, allowing the "cookies" to be enjoyed on other foods such as toast, pancakes, other cookies, on Triscuits (as shown above), or spooned directly out of the jar (guilty as charged).

The cookie butter looks thicker and dryer than peanut butter, but actually spreads quite easily.  The taste of the cookie butter is true to the original cookie itself...in other words, yummy!  I'm usually not a fan of the sweet-and-salty combo, but the cookie butter served on a Triscuit was unexpectedly satisfying (I'll have to credit my husband for that pairing).  I joked about eating the cookie butter directly out of the jar (okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly a joke), but if you choose to do so, indulge sparingly: the cookie butter contains all the fat, calories, and sugar of peanut butter, but hardly any of the protein. 

Buy again?  Yes.  I'm still going to rake the shelves at the store for the Lotus Bakeries version, but until then, consider me a repeat customer of this brand.  ~400g jar, C$3.99