Creamy, dreamy, eat-with-a-spoon Homemade Speculoos Cookie Butter with homemade spiced Dutch cookies whipped into a delicious spread.

Have you ever tried Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter? If you have, chances are high that you’re obsessed with it. But what if you could save yourself a trip to TJ’s and make it at home? (Hint: you can!)
Today we’re making creamy, dreamy, eat-with-a-spoon Homemade Speculoos Cookie Butter!
It’s December 5th, which can only mean one thing in the Netherlands … Sinterklaas! A man in a big red jacket (who they say is different from Santa) comes and leaves sweets in children’s’ shoes (because stockings are too modern) with the help of his little helpers, Black Pete (like elves, but a bit racist).
There are marzipan treats and cups of hot chocolate and plenty of kruidnoten, tiny cookies that Black Pete throws around. And these kruidnoten? They’re made with speculoos spices!
For the unfamiliar, speculoos (made popular by TD’s cookie butter and Biscoff cookies) are spiced cookies that taste somewhere between gingerbread and graham crackers.
Speculoos cookie butter takes this deliciousness up a notch by transforming the cookies into a nut-butter-like spread. It’s creamy, slightly crunchy, full of winter spices, and perfect on EVERYTHING. And today…we make it.
How to make homemade speculoos cookie butter
Making this homemade speculoos spread (i.e. cookie butter) has two main steps:
- Make the cookies: We’ll cook these until a bit crispy, then take all but 2 of the cookies out of the oven. Let those 2 cookies get extra crispy in the oven!
- Blend the cookies into cookie butter: The cookies we remove first will be blended into a smooth paste (with the help of butter, milk, and coffee!). The extra crispy cookies will be crushed into crumbs, giving our homemade cookie butter a slightly crunchy texture.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 stick room temp unsalted butter 1/2 cup, 113 g
- ¼ cup white sugar 50 g
- ¾ cup brown sugar 150 g
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract 5 mL
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 230 g
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp nutmeg
- ¾ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground white pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
Cookie Butter
- 2 Tbsp melted butter 28 g
- ¼ cup brewed coffee 60 mL
- ¾ cup milk cow or almond, 180 mL
Instructions
- Dough: Beat together butter and sugars together until smooth, then add in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, pepper, salt, and baking soda. Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
- Bake: Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Roll dough into balls and flatten into big cookies. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cookies are browned around the edges and a bit crispy. Remove all but 2 cookies. Continue cooking these 2 cookies for 10 more minutes, until very crispy.
- Blend: Meanwhile, cool the rest of the cookies to room temperature, then add them to a food processor and pulse until they are fine crumbs. With the food processor running, slowly pour in melted butter, then coffee, then milk (you may not need all the milk!) Continue blending and adding milk until the consistency is a smooth paste. Crush the 2 remaining cookies into crumbs and mix into the cookie butter for added crunch.
Heather Johnson says
How do you store the Speculoos and how long is it good for?
Sarah says
Store it in the fridge in a sealed container (like a mason jar) for about 1 week 😀
Sofia cunningham says
How many cookies does the recipe make?
Sarah says
About 8 large cookies! 😀