Speculoos Cookies

I've never written a food blog, but I was so excited about this baking experiment, I thought I would share it with you!  How many of you have heard of Speculoos?  You may have heard it called Biscoff Spread or Cookie Butter (made by Trader Joe's), but I will forever call it by it's French name - Speculoos.  I was first introduced to this glorified peanut butter during my semester abroad.  As some of you may remember, I gave up chocolate for Lent that year, and Lent quite inconveniently fell over my Spring Break trip to Paris.  So, my dear friend Cathy bought Speculoos for us to eat with fruit and bread, since I could not have Nutella.  Ever since, we have all been hooked!  I came back to the states and scoured every grocery store to find this product!  At the time, I could only find it at one store - Fresh Market.  Now, only two years later, it's available at almost every major grocery in the country, in addition to Walmart and Trader Joe's (who have formed their own label of Cookie Butter).

So, for awhile, I've been wanting to modify a standard recipe for peanut butter cookies (substituting Speculoos for peanut butter).  I know, I know, you can buy Biscoff cookies at the store...  But making your own is so much more fun, and you get chewy cookies instead of crunchy tea-cookies.  I did have to modify the flour content - because Speculoos and peanut butter don't have quite the same consistency, the batter turned out very sticky, and my test cookies were thin and didn't rise properly.  So, here is the recipe I used (courtesy of the old Better Homes & Garden cookbook):

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (this is 1/4 more flour than the peanut butter cookie recipe)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine (or butter)
1/2 cup Speculoos
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Stir together flour, baking soda & salt - set aside.  In a mixer bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds.  Add Speculoos, granulated sugar, and brown sugar; beat until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well.  Add dry ingredients; beat until well combined.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls; roll in granulated sugar if desired (I did not do this last part, but it's definitely worth trying!).  Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes.  Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet before removing to cooling rack.

Can I just say, the cookie dough for these is DELICIOUS.  The cookies were good too, but I'm looking to get more opinions on that before I make them again.  If anyone happens to try them, let me know what your thoughts are!