Made from flour, butter, brown sugar and various spices, the speculoos is a typically Belgian biscuit. He stands proudly on the top of the Belgian cookie chain as the favorite snack for young and old alike. In the Belgian tradition, the speculoos are offered by Saint-Nicholas to children that well-behaved.
According to the legend, this old and wise bearded fellow keeps an eye on each children all year long. And once a year, the night before December 6th, he gets into every house and doles out rewards (speculoos) or punishments to all kids. But a you were good as gold during this semester, here is a delicious recipe that you may prepare with the speculoos you’ll receive!
A tiramisu! You all must know this famous Italian dessert right? Well, our speculoos will enable you to make a Belgian version of it that will make all Italians jealous. Believe me, your dessert will gain a delicious spiced taste and all your friends back home will ask you for your secret. Promise, we keep it secret ;)
Ingredients for 6 persons
- 250 g mascarpone
- 100 g brown sugar
- 20 speculoos biscuits
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
- 5 cl of Marsala or Amaretto
- 20 cl of straight black coffee (espresso)
- speculoos crumbs
How to prepare
- Take the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks.
- Slowly add the brown sugar and the vanilla sugar to the egg yolks. You need to obtain a homogeneous and frothy mix.
- Add the mascarpone to the eggs and mix with a whisk.
- Beat the egg whites firmly and add them slowly to the eggs/mascarpone mix. To do so, use a spatula and be careful to avoid that the beaten egg whites start to drop again.
- Mix the coffee with the marsala in a deep dish (If you want to, add a bit of caramel).
- Softly dip the speculoos biscuits in the deep dish. Do not soak them completely as they have to remain a bit solid. Be careful that the interior of the biscuit remains dry.
- Line up the bottom of a bowl with a layer of speculoos.
- Cover the layer of biscuits with the egg mascarpone mix.
- Then alternate layers of biscuits with layers of cream. Make sure to end with a layer of the mascarpone/egg mix.
- Put the bowl in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
- Sprinkle some speculoos crumbs on top before serving.
- Savour it.