Cuisine of Belgium

Cookie butter

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Facts About Cookie butter

Cookie butter History In the United States In Scandinavia

Cookie butter is a food paste made primarily from speculoos cookie crumbs, fat, flour, and sugar. The ingredients are mixed until it becomes spreadable on a sandwich. In countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, it is a common alternative to nut butter and chocolate spreads. The most common brand name is Lotus Bakeries.

History

In 2007, two individual inventors took part in a Belgian TV inventor show, called De Bedenkers ("The Inventors"), with competing recipes for a similar product: to make a spreadable product out of Speculoos cookies. Chef Danny De Maeyer had already filed a patent at that time, but didn't make it very far. His competitor Els Scheppers made it into the semi-finals with hers. Lotus, the biggest brand of Speculoos (known as Biscoff in the US) cookies, bought her idea and produced it to market. They also bought De Maeyer's patent in 2009, so as to seal the market.

On January 20, 2011, a court of commerce in Ghent, Belgium, denied the patent because the recipe had already been published on a Dutch website prior to its production.

Today, with the monopoly lifted, cookie butter is available under many brands. Lotus Biscoff is still the most common name, however.

In the United States

The spread gained a cult following in the United States in 2015.

It is often served during holidays.

Lotus Biscoff Cookie Butter is the most recognizable brand. However, Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter is quite popular as well.

Photo: Crich4 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / en.wikipedia.org

In Scandinavia

In Scandinavia, a different kind of cookie butter has been used to make confectionery cakes for many years. It usually has a very thick consistency and is flavoured with cocoa and liquor.

In Sweden, cookie butter is the main ingredient in Dammsugare (Punsch-rolls). The buttery paste is flavoured with cocoa and punsch, wrapped in a thin sheet of marzipan and dipped in dark chocolate. The marzipan is usually coloured brightly green.

In Denmark, cookie butter is known as trøffel-masse and is used for many traditional confectionery cakes such as studenterbrød, romkugler (known as trøfler in some parts of the country) and træstammer (a bit similar to the Swedish dammsugare) on sale in most bakeries. The cookie butter is mostly flavoured with cocoa and often includes other types of crumbled cakes. It is sometimes mixed with shredded coconut, rolled oats or jams. For the jam, apricot or raspberry is the preferred ingredient.

Photo: Godisgirl / CC0 / en.wikipedia.org

Based on: Wikipedia