This smoothie has become my new best friend.
You may have heard of Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread or tried it. And if not you need to get on board.
I’ve mentioned my love for the stuff and tried to describe what it tastes like if you haven’t yet been fortunate enough to inhale your own jar(s). Plural.
It’s an imitation of Biscoff Spread which is amazing, too.
I find the TJ’s is a little thicker and slightly stronger in flavor than the Biscoff version, but they are very similar.
However, I am in Aruba.
There is no Trader Joe’s and I’m sure no Biscoff spread to be had here.
But it is a Dutch island and they love their sweet treats and sweet spreads.
Imagine my delight when I saw this Markant Speculaaspasta spread straight from Holland on the local Aruban grocery store shelves.
Cha-ching. Score!
Does the phrase finger-lickin’-good sound about right?
Or eat least spoon-lickin’-good.
It’s ridiculously good and I’m almost wishing that I didn’t know that speculoos = cookies
And I deduced that spasta = spread
Put that together: speculoos + spasta = you’ve got cookie butter spread
I’m sure someone will write to me telling me I am wrong with my translations but I know I am right with the flavor. That’s all that matters.
It’s been my downfall, or windfall on this trip, depending on how you look at it.
Put cookie butter spread together with white chocolate chips and cream and sugar…
And banana
And I’ve got one of the best smoothies I’ve ever made.
To the beachside juice bar smoothie hut place: I do not need your overpriced smoothies.
I can make my own.
And I love them.
I’ve made best of friends with cookie butter in both smoothies and on spoons.
I cannot get enough of this gingerbready, molasses cookie, spready goodness.
I am not exaggerating: Best spread ever. Better than Nutella, better than sunflower seed butter, better than any other spread I’ve ever had. The local Markant Speculaaspasta has more of a gingery kick than the Biscoff or TJ’s cookie butter spread.
In a smoothie with everything else going on and going in, whatever brand spread you use, pretty much the same.
And by the same I mean fabulous because ground up cookies in the form of cookie butter spread and ground up white chocolate chips and powdered sugar…
That’s fabulous in my world.
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Creamy Cookie Butter White Chocolate Banana Smoothie (with vegan and gluten free options)
2 bananas (previously frozen is ideal but not essential)
1/2 c cream or milk (half and half, coconut milk, cream of coconut, or coconut creme concentrate, almond milk, etc. or use water)
1/3 c + white chocolate chips (more if you love white chocolate. Or semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips)
2 tbsp + cookie butter (try the Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter, Biscoff Spread, Markant Brand; or use Peanut Butter, Sunflower Seed Butter, Almond Butter, or other alternative nut butter/spread, i.e Nutella. Use more if you love nut butters. I used closer to 3-4 tbsp)
1/4 c sugar, optional or to taste (I used powdered sugar rather than white but do as you see fit or try honey, agave, sugar, stevia, vanilla NuNaturals stevia drops to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c ice cubes
The remainder is optional (ideas to try if you’re feeling creative or want true decadence):
add a few graham crackers, Biscoff cookies, speculoos cookies (TJ’s has their own version of these also) to the blender before mixing, 1/4 c or thereabouts
1/4 c yogurt (plain or vanilla) to the mixture before blending
1 scoop neutral or vanilla flavored protein powder to the mixture before blending
other spice pinches such as ginger, nutmeg, cardamom
melt 2 tbsp white chocolate chips + 2 tbsp cookie butter (or alternative nut butter) in the microwave for 20 seconds and pour this into a glass (frosty or chilled is ideal) before pouring the smoothie into the glass or top the smoothie with the melted mixture
rim the top of the glass with crushed graham crackers, Biscoff or speculoos cookies (dip top of glass rim in water so crumbs adhere, then dip glass in crushed cookie pile)
top with a handful of white chocolate chips
top with a cookie butter/nut butter drizzle
top with crushed graham crackers/Biscoff/speculoos cookies
top with coconut flakes, granola, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, raisins, chia seeds
Add 1 to 2 ounces Baileys Irish Cream, Kahlua, plain/vanilla/marshmallow/cake-flavored vodka or your favorite liquor
Directions: Blend everything in Vita-Mix, Magic Bullet, or blender until smooth.
Yields: Approximately 12 ounces. Store extra in the freezer and remove from freezer long enough to soften before drinking the leftover portion.
To keep vegan, use vegan white chocolate chips, use dark chocolate chips or peanut butter chips, or omit. Use suitable nut milk or water. Biscoff cookies and Biscoff spread are vegan. Take care all other ingredients are suitable for your needs.
To keep gluten free, use a nut butter that is GF such as peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, etc. Use a gluten free cookie that is similar to gingerbread/molasses spice Enjoy Life Brand, make your own GF cookies (google and a plethora of recipes are found), or omit the crushed cookies. Take care all other ingredients do not contain trace gluten and are suitable for your needs.
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I could guzzle this every single day. I love it so much.
But if someone doesn’t love white chocolate, cookie butter spread, sugar, and cream there’s really no hope for them. And they’re reading the wrong blog.
You could make this smoothie with peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, Nutella, or any other spread of your choice. But if you can get your hands on any version of cookie butter spread, it’s highly recommended. Yes, hoard it from TJ’s, order online, get creative. Find it.
The sooner you find it, the happier your life will be.
Spread it on crackers, toast, fruit, make cookies with it, make frosting with it.
Make Marshmallow Peanut Butter (Cookie Butter) Double Chocolate Pillowtop Bars with it.
Make a smoothie with it.
Remember the expression finger-lickin’-good at 12:08am when you have an urge for a midnight snack.
I’m pretty familiar with it lately.
Questions:
1. Have you tried Cookie Butter Spread? (TJ’s version, Biscoff brand, or another brand) Do you love it?
2.Do you have a favorite nut butter of all time?
3. Have you made anything with cookie butter spread, Biscoff Spread, Biscoff cookies, etc.?
I made these No Bake Peanut Butter Biscoff Cookie Dough Bites
Originally I made them with Peanut Butter and Biscoff cookies. Now I want to make them with Cookie Butter and Biscoff cookies.
I have more cookie butter spread recipes to share soon, too.
Thanks for the 30 Day Home Fitness Program Giveaway entries
Oh goodness! Amazing! I made it with PB, used frozen bananas, and skipped the ice. I also skipped the optional sweetener. It is PLENTY sweet without it from the white chocolate! And I even used less white chocolate than called for, only 1/4 cup. Weird that you felt it needed sweetener when it was so sweet for me. Maybe my bananas were riper? Or maybe it’s because my skipping the ice prevented dilution? I don’t know. . . . But whatever the case, I loved it!
Glad it worked out great for you!
from what i read,Markant is the supplier of cookie butter for TJ’s,TJs don’t usually devulge their sources,and change the products name after them….
I recently discovered Biscoff and have been putting it on everything! This smoothie looks awesome!
Considering that I just broke our blender because I’ve been waking up at 6 AM every morning and making smoothies at an unhealthy rate (okay, actually I dropped the blender as I was getting out of a car), and considering the fact that I bought my first ever jar of cookie butter from Trader Joe’s to try my hand at your funfetti cookie butter bars…looks like I’ll just have to buy a new blender. Wouldn’t want to let that half jar of cookie butter go to waste, would I? Thanks for sharing! The funfetti cookie butter bars turned out great, by the way; I went a little sprinkle crazy at the end in my photos and made a few small topping subs, but I’ve been officially sold by your recipes into Team Cookie Butter.
Well after the broken blender, you DESERVE a cookie butter smoothie. Glad you had success with the Funfetti bars, sprinkles and all!
I love these ideas..I do the styling and soem recipe develpoment for Biscoff! Keep it up!!
Wow, what a cool job you have!
We may be long-lost sisters!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE TJ’s Cookie Butter!
Yes.. we Dutch loooove our cookies haha! Specialy speculaas. However most of the spreads come from Belgium. I found a speculaas sirup this winter in Belgium to poor over icecream or pancakes!
You could even mix it in your coffee !
Have you ever tried: stroopwafels?
These waffles filled with golden syrup?
In Holland you can buy the giant ones on the market. They make them for you as you wait!
Yes I’ve had stroopwafels…so good! And the syrup/sirup sounds wonderful!
Hi,
We actually carry the tradtional kind sold in Belgium. We are mainly selling online, but feel free to visit http://www.speculoos.us and try our quality its hands down the best on the market.
considering the “bistro cookies” from trader joe’s are the same as biscoff i highly doubt the spread is any different from the biscoff brand spread…they’re very good at getting name brand products under their name and then selling them for less.
Finally caved and bought the cookie butter from TJ’s. It is AMAZING! So dangerous before my tropical vacaiton next month…hmmm…maybe I’ll just have to bring some with me!
averie! i have been waiting all week for your cookie butter recipe!!! cannot wait to try this out!! p.s i totally agree with you…best.butter.ever!!!EVER!!!!
We are missing out on a whole bunch of cool spreads in Canada :-(
i need to pick up a jar of speculoooooos!
you had me at Cookie Butter
I did not know that Aruba is a Dutch island. I bet you were uber excited to find that spread there. I have been reading about the cookie spread from TJ’s. A sure hit and that stuff will fly off the shelves!
Great smoothie and perfect for that warm weather. Actually, it is great for any time at all. Aprés ski perhaps?
You have to get the cookie butter. It will be the best (or worst) thing that you have ever bought from TJs (Depending on how you look at it)…as in…buy multiple jars b/c the first few will be gone within a day :)
The title of your post totally grabbed me. Cookie butter smoothie!! Do want <3 I have yet to find cookie butter here in Canada :( must look harder…
Hi Averie,
First time commenting, though I think its probably 2 years following! Delurking because I live in Holland and we love speculoos! Its done in both Belgium and Holland and comes in both the paste and they make speculoos cookies. Its a well loved national icon! Other than stroopwafels of course (thin waffles filled with caramel). Nice to see it used in a smoothie, never thought of that! Aruba looks stunning, living in Holland I have always wanted to visit one of the A,B,C islands. Thanks for your continued awesome and creative content.
Thanks for saying hi from Holland! I had a feeling (or a hope) that posting about the Speculoos Spread would flush out an international reader..it’s happened before when I’ve made certain things. Anyway…this morning…I put the cookie butter to more use so stay tuned. I hope I do the Dutch people proud :)
The grocery store here, actually a couple groc stores, have the BEST spreads. Dangerously good looking. White chocolate paste, dark and white choc paste that’s swirled together, various peanut butters…I am almost glad I can’t read the language very well or I’d be buying even more :) I have bought things before that I thought were dessert balls from the freezer case that were actually filled with cheese and savory herbs..ha!
Anyway, thanks for reading for all these years and please don’t be a stranger. The next cookie butter recipe should be up within a week!
Speculoos is sure to “out” any dutch readers. Though I should say I’m an Australian living in Holland. So I hope its nice for you to see how far reaching your blog is! I was excited for this recipe A. because its so simple B. I can access the ingredients easily. Alot of the US ingredients are near impossible to get hold of here. I would LOVE to have a TJ’s or WF here. I die and go to food heaven whenever I go to New York City. Amsterdam just doesn’t have the wide range of choice you guys are spoilt for. If you ever get the chance in the local stores / bakeries – pick up some dutch Appeltart. Its amazing. Its a cross between a tart and cake. And of course stroopwafels, this seemingly boring looking cookie is to die for! Lastly nice to watch your photography grow. My husband and I are photographers!
Stroopwafels…they have those here and I’ve never picked them up b/c yes they look a little boring. There are times though when I’ll be at a neighbor’s house here in Aruba and eat something fabulous and I’ll ask where!! did you get this or that, and they’ll tell me and it’s usually something ‘boring’ that I would have never picked up in the market on my own.
Thanks for the compliments on my photography..that’s awesome you and your hubs are photographers.
Don’t be a stranger!
I haven’t tried it because it sounds like it’s not gluten-free. But it sure sounds delicious! I’ll just have to make my own sometime. I’m down with anything that includes white chocolate…and bananas…and nut butters. You know just give me a sugar IV right now ;)
I don’t think it’s GF b/c Biscoff/speculoos cookies in general aren’t GF. If you used a GF brand of cookie that’s molasses gingersnap-ish, added brown sugar, dash of butter or oil and blended, you could probably get close!
Oooo. Cookie butter in a smoothie. Genius. I’m off to TJs. ;)
Speculaaspasta spread – Such a lucky find!!!
Ugh- my Trader Joes STILL doesn’t have the cookie butter. And they haven’t even heard of it!!
But, maybe that’s a good thing? Don’t know if I should really have an open jar of that in the house. :)
My favorite nut butter is currently Sunflower, but of all time- I’m partial to the almond butter that you grind yourself at Whole Foods. No matter which WF I’ve bought it from, it always tastes amazing!
a few people have mentioned that in the comments and the other day about their TJs not having the spread yet :(
Looks amazing! I have not tried cookie spread yet and that’s probably a good thing!
Drooooool. Save me some!
I’d love to try that Dutch version of cookie butter!
I still have yet to try this deliciousness. I’m sure my little town will go without it, which is probably better for my intestines and sanity. But, I would eat that straight from the spoon if given the chance.
I can’t believe you found that spread in Aruba! I’m mourning the end of mine :(
girl have fun in aruuuuuuba!
i miss that warm sunshine; it’s 32 degrees and permanently cloudy here.
Ugh…stay warm!
I loved seeing your Aruba pics on your Pinterest page…Awesome shots of Aruba and all the other fab places you’ve been!
Oh my word! This looks divine!! Thank you for helping to support my cookie butter addiction.
favorit nut butter of all time is peanut butter co. white chocolate wonderful. nothing like it.
this is better than WCW to me…seriously. I love this stuff! But WCW has it’s own special place and always will :)
Haha…I love it that they have cookie spread, even in Aruba :-)
I got the TJ’s cookie butter a few weeks ago and it was finished in less than a week. I was so excited when I found it on the shelves because my TJ’s doesn’t usually have the fun things I hear about from other people.
The only thing I used it on was one apple. The rest was consumed via spoon.
I love biscoff spread!!! I actually don’t know what my favorite nut butter is, that’s too hard!! I have been trying to make cupcakes with biscoff spread…I’ll come up with the perfect recipe soon! :)
Nope, I have not yet tried cookie butter, but I’ve been wanting to. I may pick up the TJ’s brand this weekend.
I love biscoff! So addicting. I bought it once and it was demolished in too short of a time, so I haven’t gotten it again haha!
I need to crank up the heat in here and have one of those ;-) Sounds awesome
What an excellent find! I like the idea of a gingery kick especially when combined with white chocolate, that’s just one of the best combos ever!
I know what’ll be taking up half your suitcase on the way back to Cali!! Hoard that stuff, it sounds amazing :)
It’s good but I also live 6 blocks from TJs so I don’t have to go into total hoard mentality or anything. Plus my groc store in CA carries Biscoff spread so Im…set :)