Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Frequent Asked Questions
What is this magical concoction you’ve been hearing so much about lately? I am here to tell you!
About Speculoos Cookie Butter
It all started with a plain cookie that was popular in parts of Holland and Belgium called Speculoos or Speculaas depending on if you spoke Dutch or French. It’s a type of spiced biscuit traditionally eaten before St. Nicolas’ Feast on either Dec. 5th or 6th depending again on if you are from Holland or Belgium and Northern France. These cookies have been around for a very long time, maybe hundreds of years.
The cookies are very thin, very crunchy, and browned. Traditionally they were made in the images from traditional stories of St. Nicholas (aka St. Nick or Father Christmas). The cookies have spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom, and white pepper. Most are made from flour, brown sugar, and the aforementioned spices.
The creation of Biscoff spread happened because of a TV contest in 2007 in Belgium on a show named “De Bedenkers” or The Inventors. Els Scheppers was on to something when she created this sweet, creamy spread using the famous Lotus Speculoos cookies.
Lotus Bakeries got in touch with Els and they worked together to perfect her creation. Just three hours after its initial release in Belgium, the product sold out and a culinary phenomenon was born.
The spread was first introduced to the U.S. in 2011. Then shortly after that Trader Joe’s came up with Speculoos Cookie Butter. Then in 2012 they came out with Speculoos Crunchy Butter.
In October 2013 they came out with the Speculoos Cookie and Cocoa Swirl. Trader Joe’s also sells Speculoos cookies and chocolate bars filled with Speculoos.
The first time I heard about the rage for cookie butter was when David Lebovitz (The famous food blogger from New York that moved to Paris many years ago) mentioned it on his blog, but he was talking about Bischof Spread and not the Trader Joe’s product. It’s still going crazy as you can see by my Facebook page dedicated to the product: https://www.facebook.com/speculooscookiebutter
Where can I buy it?
If you want Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter, you can only buy it at Trader Joe’s in the USA. Having said that, there are many people on eBay and Amazon reselling it, especially for the overseas market. If you don’t see it on the shelf at your local Trader Joe’s, ask the manager, and they might be keeping it behind the counter and rationing out.
What is up with the shortage?
Demand for Cookie Butter was always high but didn’t get really bad until it became some sort of crazy in Asia. (if someone knows why, please email me) Especially in the Phillippines and Singapore.
People were coming in and buying every jar on the shelves as soon as they were stocked and reselling it on eBay, Amazon, or shipping it straight to the Phillippines and reselling it there. Demand is at an all-time high as of October 2013.
Trader Joe’s responded by rationing it out at the stores to one jar per customer, but the rationing seemed to have eased and people started seeing it on the shelves of some stores again.
What is it made of?
Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter is really just ground up Speculoos cookies mixed with sugar and oil. Here are the ingredients list:
Serving Size: 1 Tbsp (15g)
Nutrition facts: 90 calories, 50 calories from fat, 6g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 0mg cholesterol, 0mg sodium, 8g total carbs, 0g fiber, 5g sugar, <1g sugar
INGREDIENTS: 57% SPECULOOS (WHEAT FLOUR, CANDY SUGAR, MARGARINE [PALM OIL, CANOLA OIL, COCONUT OIL, RAPESEED OIL, WATER, SALT, EMULSIFIER {VEGETABLE MONO-AND DIGLYCERIDES FROM FATTY ACIDS}, CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, COLOR ADDED {BETA CAROTENE}, BUTTER FLAVOR (NON-DAIRY)], SUGAR, SOY FLOUR, SUGAR SYRUP, RAISING AGENT {SODIUM HYDROGEN CARBONATE}, CINNAMON, NUTMEG), PALM OIL, CANOLA OIL, SUGAR, EMULSIFIER: RAPESEED LECITHIN.
Is Speculoos Cookie Butter good for you:
Not really. It’s basically sugar, flour, and oil. Really no redeeming value nutritionally BUT it does taste oh so good!
What does it taste like?
It tastes great! Really it just tastes like Speculoos cookies with more sugar and oil. It has hints of the spices added, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Is Speculoos Cookie Butter Vegan/Vegetarian
Yes, and Yes and it is also nut free. Unfortunately, it’s not Gluten Free. Maybe that will be the next thing from Trader Joe’s a Vegan, Kosher, Gluten Free Speculoos Cookie Butter!
What are the different Speculoos Cookie Butter products from Trader Joe’s:
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter (The original one)
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Crunchy
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Cookie and Cocoa Swirl
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie and Cream Swirl
- Trader Joe’s Chocolate Bars with Speculoos
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Cheesecake
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Dark Chocolate Cookie Butter Cups
- Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream
Trader Joe’s keeps adding this to many products all the time. Let me know if I missed one!