michelle picker cooks

Speculaas (or speculoos) are a spiced and browned shortcrust biscuit. The spices used were popular in Europe in the days of the Dutch East Indies spice trade – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper. These days you can buy a spreadable paste of these cookies called Biscoff or Cookie Butter. I bought a jar and decided to use it to make an ice cream.

Measure 2 cups of milk, 1¼ cups of heavy cream, ¼ of a cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of light corn syrup into a saucepan. Add a cinnamon quill and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes then add ½  a cup of cookie butter. Stir until dissolved and continue to simmer until thickened. In another bowl whisk 3 tablespoons of softened cream cheese with ⅛ of a teaspoon of salt. Pour the hot mixture over the cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Cool the mixture down over an ice bath and when the mixture is quite cold churn it in an ice cream machine, sorbetiere or over ice and salt. I decanted my ice cream into flexible silicone moulds before freezing then served them finely julienned green apple and a crumb made from breadcrumbs fried with brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.