My first Cookie Butter encounter

I realize although I am technically a food blogger, I don’t tend to stay on top of the food trend. Sure I hear about some of them inevitably, but it isn’t my attitude to bandwagon. Of course unless it’s something I genuinely like.

My ramen phase is understandable because I have a fierce love for Asian noodle soups and could probably live off them. But I was maybe a few months late in joining the rest of the Manila foodies in experiencing the ramen craze. You haven’t seen me raving or ranting about croughnuts even though the rest of Manila seems to be going crazy over it mostly because I’m neither a croissant nor doughnut lover. Honestly so far I’ve only tasted a tiny piece of Krispy Kreme’s Bavarian-filled croughnuts in all its flaky, multi-layered glory and my verdict is that anything with Bavarian is bound to taste good. I learned my lesson with the bandwagoning thing thanks to Twilight.

Another huge trend I haven’t dipped my fingers into? The Cookie Butter phenomenon. I was surprised to hear that some here in Manila have found a way to get their hands on these bottles of gooey Speculoos since it seems to be an ongoing craze in the US as well.

At first I didn’t mind it much. After all, I already knew what Speculoos tastes like. My little brother kept pestering me though, asking me to imagine what out of this world taste Speculoos spread might have since one the best homemade ice creams I’ve made so far features bits of Speculoos in it. He was bothering me because he needed my credit card to pay for a jar of Cookie Butter, because here it was only mostly available online. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me. If absolutely everyone I know is raving about it, is it really that good? But each time I attempted to purchase a jar I was always met with the sold out ribbon. There’s another trend I haven’t grown into as well: online deal shopping. I never seem to catch it within the time limit!

And then one day something magical happened. A high school friend of mine left me a message asking me if I had tried the cookie butter. ‘No, never,’ I told her. ‘It’s crazy how it’s always sold out!’

She said, ‘Would you like some?’

‘Yes please!!!’ I remember right then my mind went crazy with all the possibilities of cookie butter baked goodies.

You see she has an online store called Go Seek Shop and she was carrying cookie butters, both Trader Joe’s and Biscoff. I was ready to order when she left me the message, so it was like a bizarrely amazing twist of fate. ‘I want to send you a couple of bottles so you can try them out. Bake something with them!’ She urged me.

I didn’t need to be told twice.

The Trader Joe Cookie Butter has a pleasant warm taste, spiced with cinnamon, some people have gone so far as to call it Christmas in a bottle. It is literally your favourite gingerbread cookie in spread form. My brothers have been loving it, and have even reprimanded me for using almost half the bottle for making this banana bread!

That is until they got a taste of the bread.

This bread is UUUH-MAZING. Moist and soft, with the sweetness of bananas and the lovely spiciness of the cookie butter complementing each other beautifully. I promised my friend I’d pick an easy recipe so she can try it too, and it doesn’t get any easier than this. No mixers required, no extra muscle required either!

Also it had one of the most fragrant batters I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. The streusel is very much optional, but it adds a nice crunch to the top of the bread. You can probably reduce the amount of sugar a little bit (instead of a full cup use a scant or barely full cup) or remove the streusel altogether, either way I can assure you nobody will complain about the half-empty cookie butter jar after eating this.

If the Speculoos spread becomes a supermarket regular, I’d definitely be making this bread more often.

Banana bread is such a great and super easy base recipe to work with, and it can be combined with pretty much anything from chocolate to peanut butter, and now Speculoos spread. What I liked most about this recipe was getting clear notes of both the banana taste and the Cookie Butter taste without one overwhelming the other. But if you’re looking for an extra dose of Speculoos, then by all means just slather your Cookie Butter/Biscoff spread on your banana bread and devour!

Watch out for my next Cookie Butter creation. I still have a full unopened bottle of Crunchy Cookie Butter left and I’ve already got a plan for it! A big hug to Go Seek Shop for furnishing me with my Cookie Butters! Go check out the shop if you live in the Philippines and are looking for a place to buy Cookie Butter or Biscoff spread.