AlwaysLearning: Speculoos

Katie Reisert — August 26, 2009

Speculoos. What is it about Dutch and Belgian food words, like Speculoos (or Spekuloos) and Kapsalon that make them sound so epic? If you’ve eaten a Spekuloos covered waffle from the Wafels & Dinges truck you may find that the taste is epic too. It’s like Golden Grahams Cereal in dessert sauce form. But as good as it is, Speculoos didn’t originate as a spread.

Where it’s from: The Netherlands and Belgium.

What it is: Speculoos is actually a cookie, similar in composition to a biscuit or shortbread. Traditionally, it was baked to be eaten on St Nicholas’ Eve in the Netherlands (Dec. 5) and Belgium (Dec. 6). These thin, crunchy cookies are typically made using butter, sugar and a combination of spices including: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves and sometimes ginger. They were then stamped with depictions of St. Nicholas. These days the cookies are available year-round. But they typically remain stamped with images, sometimes relating to the story of St. Nicholas, sometimes featuring representations of people, animals and daily life.

It’s not clear exactly where the word Speculoos comes from. Some speculate it originated from the Dutch word for spice, specerij. Another possibility is the Latin word for mirror, speculum, which could refer to the mirrored wooden stamp relief which was used to decorate the cookie.

Where to get it in New York: You can find packaged Speculoos cookies at Le Pain Quotidien (pictured above). Their renditions are like thin cinnamon sugar cookies with tiny bits of lemon. Lotus Bakeries have been making their ‘caramelised biscuits’ since 1932. After being discovered the cookies were rebranded in United States as Biscoff (Biscuit + Coffee = BISCOFF), which you can find at Walgreen’s.

A Liège Wafel with Spekuloos Spread and Strawberries, $6.

As mentioned above, spreadable Speculoos (we’re talking delicious, next-level stuff, here) can be found at the Wafels & Dinges truck. They actually label it on their menu as “our favorite.” And believe it or not, you can get it for free —well, technically that is— because when buying a waffle, your first ‘dinges’ (topping) is on the house, or the truck rather. The Wafels & Dinges version is in the peanut butter and Nutella school of the spreadable world. It has hints of caramel and cinnamon, is thinner and lighter than peanut butter and more gooey than Nutella. But it’s less sweet and a tad saltier. Unlike a heavy hot fudge sauce that can hide the waffle’s flavor, Spekuloos complements it perfectly.

If you want to keep some Speculoos Spread on hand at home you can order a 28oz jar of the spread for $7.58 through the airline food supplier, Gourmet Center which distributes Lotus’ products in America.

AlwaysInvestigating: Nutella Pizza

The Gluttoness & The Hungry Goat — August 07, 2009

Slice recently highlighted the pizza episode of the Food Network’s ““The Best Thing I Ever Ate,”:http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate/index.html” in which Aaron Sanchez heralded Max Brenner’s Chocolate Pizza as his ultimate slice: manufactured pastry dough topped with melted chocolate chunks, marshmallows and candied hazelnuts. It sounds better than it tastes— the result is a gooey mess on crappy crust— and the backlash against Sanchez hasn’t been pretty. Eat Me Daily featured his selection in a Crimes Against Food post, and Farinella’s owner, Alberto Cretara, tweeted: “NEVER SEEN ANYTHING SO DISGUSTING IN MY LIFE! PLEASE USE THE WORD “PIZZA” WITH CONSIDERATION! TASTE OUR PIZZA AARON!”

Max Brenner’s Chocolate Pizza becomes more appetizing after a few drinks, but even then it isn’t close to the best of anything. However, there are awesome dessert pizzas in New York City. The best forgo chocolate for Nutella.

Kesté Pizza & Vino’s Pizza Alla Nutella, $10.00.

Kesté Pizza & Vino (Pizza Alla Nutella) — The key to a righteous Nutella pie is quality dough. The slight saltiness of Kesté‘s excellent dough tones down the rich spread, and its thin, crispness adds the requisite texture. Each of these four panini-esque wedges rewards you with a thick, sticky mustache of warm melted chocolate. It’s a formula that makes the pie at Kesté the best of this bunch.

Scuderia’s Pizzetta Con Nutella E Mascarpone, $8.50.

Scuderia (Pizzetta Con Nutella E Mascarpone) — This rustic-looking dessert pie is most notable for adding dollops of creamy mascarpone. The balance between the mascarpone and the Nutella, combined with the crunch of the thin, golden brown dough, makes for a sweetly satisfying bite. The downside is that within a few minutes the too-thin Nutella spread hardens and flakes. Solution: consume quickly.

Tonda’s Nutella Pizza, $5.00.

Tonda (Nutella Pizza) — More like a calzone than a pizza. Although “too much Nutella” is a phrase rarely uttered by chocoholics, this thin dough is easily overtaken by the dense, rich spread.

If these three decadent dishes have you craving more, here are some other renditions:

-“Accademia di Vino”:http://www.alwayshungryny.com/reviews/accademia-di-vino/:
Grilled Nutella Pizza w/White & Dark Chocolate, Sweet Ricotta & Coconut, $16
-“Pie by the Pound”:http://www.alwayshungryny.com/reviews/pie-by-the-pound/:
Nutella Ricotta Banana Pie, $4.75
-“Krunch Pizza Bar”:http://www.alwayshungryny.com/reviews/krunch-pizza/:
Nutella Krunch w/Hazelnut Spread, White Chocolate Shavings & Crushed Pistachios, $4/slice ($32/pie)

AlwaysPartying: Madeleine’s Macarons

The Gluttoness — May 29, 2009

It’s National Macaron Day on Sunday (May 31st), and when we think of these traditional French flourless pastries, Madeleine Patisserie in Chelsea, automatically comes to mind. On any given day they have up to twenty variations of these meringue-like, sandwich cookies, ranging from your standard Vanilla, Chocolate and Pistachio, to Nutella, Lavender, Pear Brandy and Caramel Fleur de Sel. At $2.50 a pop, they’re pricey considering they’re really just egg whites, almond powder and sugar but their crisp exteriors and rich, creamy centers make them hard to resist.

(from left: Lemon Confit, Lavender, Chocolate, Raspberry, Pistachio, Passion Fruit, Strawberry—Lavender, Cassis, Chocolate, Lavender, Pistachio, Orange/Chocolate, Lemon Confit, Mango/Lychee)

In case you haven’t been to Madeleine Patisserie, they make everything homemade in the windowed bakery visible at the rear of the store. You can also find excellent macarons further downtown at Bouley Market or uptown at Bouchon Bakery.

Madeleine Patisserie is located at: 23rd Street, b/n 6th and 7th Avenues