Birthday presents are hard for me. I just find it so difficult to think of something good for people, am I right? Something that people want (but don’t necessarily need), something that will mean something to them (without being too corny), something they’ll love (obviously), & ideally, something that they’ll love me for thinking of. See? That’s a lot of pressure, especially when my friends got me awesome presents for my birthday last month. So, when it came to The Boyf’s birthday the other week, I really had to up my game.

Enter Homemade Speculoos Spread. For those of you out there who have no idea what Speculoos is, it’s a spread made of crushed up caramelized spice biscuits. A cookie spread, if you will. Think better than peanut butter, on par with Nutella. I know, but it really is that good. The only problem that I have with Speculoos is that – as far as I know – it isn’t sold in Ireland. 

The Boyf & I first came across Speculoos when we were in Bruges last year. In Bruges, Speculoos is generously dolloped on top of burning hot, freshly out of the press waffles. Needless to say, this resulted in some of us eating waffles at every possible moment (on top of the copious amounts of chocolate, fries & beer we were also constantly shoving into our mouths). We loved it so much we even tried to bring some home (but the world hand-luggage laws wouldn’t allow it). I don’t know about The Boyf, but a year later I’m still dreaming about the creamy cinnamon-ey goodness of Speculoos. Light bulb!

A few days after the idea of making a homemade version of Speculoos occurred to me, I just happened to stumble across Lotus biscuits in the supermarket. Just like that, there they were, right in front of me. It was a sign. A sign from those much beloved Speculoos gods that I was more than willing to follow. The very next day, with a few packets of Lotus biscuits at my side, I began researching homemade versions online. Let me tell you, the results were disastrous. Some looked nice, but most of them looked too oily or grainy or worse. So I used a combination of the good ones with some of my own ideas. 

The result was better than I could have hoped for. Cinnamon-ey, creamy, not too runny, & it actually tastes like the real deal! The Boyf even gave it a 9.9 out of 10 – he never gives me a 10 on anything as a matter of principle, he doesn’t want me to “reach my peak”. It was so good that I made two batches – one batch to divide up between my house & some friends, the other batch just for The Boyf. Part I of the best ever birthday present complete. (FYI: he totally loved it.)  

PS, the jar in the pictures was full once upon a time, but unfortunately The Boyf got to it before my camera & I did.. 

(Adapted from The Big Bake Theory)

Ingredients

• 250g of Lotus Biscuits

• ¼ cup of soft light brown sugar

• 150mls of full fat coconut milk

• 25g of vegetable shortening

• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Method 

1. Place the biscuits & the brown sugar into a food processor & blitz until the mixture is fine crumbs. 

2. Pour the coconut milk into the biscuits mixture & blend until all of the biscuits are fully incorporated, scraping down the sides if necessary. 

3. Melt the vegetable shortening &, along with the lemon juice, add it into the mix. 

4. Blend the whole thing together until smooth & creamy & delicious. Pour the mixture into a pretty jar & keep in the fridge for up to two months (or there abouts).