Speculoos is a bit of heaven sent to us by the Dutch food gods. I use it like one might use nutella... on warm toast, on æbleskiver for our Danish Christmas, spread on a French crêpe, and for dipping pretzels sticks into.
Speculoos are soooooo delicious. In the US, Biscoff (it's the Lotus company) is the brand for speculoos, though Trader Joe's has it's own private label which is just as good. The cookie is a thin sweet crispy wafer that contains some spices and I think molasses or brown sugar. It's addictive. Wonderful dunked in hot tea or coffee. The powers that be turned it into a spread and IMHO, it's way better than Nutella. Biscoff has recently started selling the spread (also available in crunchy) in the US, though mail order primarily and it's not exactly cheap, but thank G, Trader Joe's has come out with it's own private label spread called Speculoos Cookie Spread. And no, it does not taste like peanut butter, it tastes better.
I'd say the texture is like peanut butter, but the flavour isn't. The spread is made with about 50% biscuits ground up, mixed with oil and other things. It tastes like the biscuits, which are quite frankly, very tasty! Here in the UK, the most recognised brand is Lotus biscuits, and they are like the ones you'd get on a plane - thin and crispy. But also at certain times of the year the German "discount" supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl sell a more authentic version - with the paste pressed into moulds depicting windmills, people in traditional costume, etc.
If you, like I, first heard about it on Chopped BBQ edition, it was the paste version of the ground cookies they were given. They did remark that it tasted a bit like peanut butter. Read:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/02/trader_joes_cookie_butter_speculoos.php
Speculoos are spiced cookies. When I visited the Netherlands, I remember buying one in a bakery--there was a mound of them in the case. They were huge and encrusted with sliced almonds. Fabulous. The ones you get on airline flights or in US grocery stores aren't as good, but they're not bad.
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http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/02/trader_joes_cookie_butter_speculoos.php