Speculoos Gelato

With the extremely hot summer we’re having, my ice cream addiction is in high gear, going from afternoon cooler to meal substitute when it reaches the 90s! I’ve gone through the range of usual flavors and was feeling slightly bored when my eyes caught a box of Speculoos in the aisle at Whole Foods… mmm. It’s been a long time since I had the pleasure of indulging in these traditional Belgian spice cookies, some of my favorites. At first I grabbed a box thinking how good they would be with vanilla ice cream, perhaps even making mini ice cream sandwiches (meal spoiler alert!)…and then it suddenly came to me, a vision in light brown color of a unique ice cream sold by a dessert truck in the streets of New York. Of course, I was going to make Speculoos ice cream!

If you’ve never had a Speculoos, you’re in for a treat. Known as Belgium’s national cookie, they are thin, crunchy, of a light brown to caramel color and usually spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper. Originally created for children to celebrate Saint Nicholas day, you can now find them year-round on Delta flights (Biscoff cookies), at restaurants and bars with your coffee, and in the form of a controversial spread, a rich nutella-like addictive substance.

Most Speculoos ice cream recipes call for the spread but since I had the cookies already I searched for one that only required them, and 4 other basic ingredients. Speculoos have such a strong, spicy flavor that you really don’t need anything else to complement them. So glad I found a recipe for gelato too, which as opposed to ice cream has less fat and therefore allows the flavors to come out more intense.

The result is a thick gelato with a rich caramel flavor, a very creamy texture, and to me a bit of a Christmassy taste to it too which in August is just grand. It’s one of the simplest gelato recipes I came across and it is major bang for your bucks. In this heat it’s much better to make this in the comfort of your home than hunting down the Waffle and Dinges truck in New York!

Speculoos Gelato

Put the milk and cream in a small saucepan and heat gently until it reaches boiling point. Pour into a heat-resistant bowl and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Blitz the cookies to a fine crumb in a food processor.

Use an electric hand whisk to beat together the sugar and egg white in a large mixing bowl until it forms soft peaks when the beaters are lifted out of the mixture. Stir in the cookie crumbs.

Remove the chill milk mixture from the fridge, pour it into the sugar-and-egg mixture and whisk for a further 20 seconds. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker and churn-freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve topped with a sprinkle of cookie crumbs.

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