Speculoos is a thin, crisp, caramelised biscuit from Belgium, usually rectangular and often stamped with a pattern. Its Dutch relative is speculaas. They share a name and a history but differ in flavour. Dutch speculaas is a spiced biscuit, made with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cardamom and white pepper. Belgian speculoos as it is sold today is mainly a caramel biscuit, coloured and flavoured with candy syrup or burnt sugar, often with only cinnamon added. According to Dutch-language sources, the caramel version appeared in Belgium in the early twentieth century as a cheaper option at a time when spices were expensive and hard to get. "Speculoos" itself is a Brabantian dialect form of "speculaas".

Speculoos is technically a koek (biscuit) rather than a sweet, but it is so central to Belgian and Dutch snacking that any reference on Low Countries confectionery needs to cover it.

Saint Nicholas and the moulded biscuit

The biscuit grew out of the Low Countries' tradition of baking for the feast of Saint Nicholas on 6 December. Speculaas dough was pressed into carved wooden moulds showing the saint, animals, ships and other figures, and the moulded figures are still sold in the Netherlands in the Sinterklaas season. Brussels bakers keep the craft alive too. Maison Dandoy, founded in Brussels in 1829, is known for its large moulded speculoos. In 2020 Brussels added speculoos to its inventory of intangible cultural heritage.

The pictures on traditional moulds are mostly Saint Nicholas, his horse, windmills, animals, and courting couples or other figures from daily life. They are decorations from the feast-day tradition and are not thought to carry a fixed symbolic meaning. Lotus's flat everyday biscuit has only a simple embossed pattern and the brand name.

Etymology: speculum, speculator, or spice?

There is no agreed origin for the name speculaas/speculoos. Dutch-language references list several competing explanations:

  • Latin speculum ("mirror"): the biscuit is a mirror image of the carved mould. Dutch Wikipedia calls this the most widely accepted explanation.
  • Latin speculator ("overseer"): a translation of the Greek episkopos, "bishop", which would point to Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra.
  • Older Dutch speculatie: suggested as a source in the sense of something pleasurable or contemplative.
  • Spices: a link with specerij ("spice", from Latin species) has also been proposed, sometimes combined with "Sinterklaas".

None of these can be proven. The speculum explanation fits the moulding technique best. The speculator explanation fits the link with Saint Nicholas.

Lotus and Biscoff

The speculoos best known worldwide is made by Lotus Bakeries, founded in 1932 by the brothers Jan, Emiel and Henri Boone in Lembeke, East Flanders. Jan Boone named the company after the lotus flower, a symbol of purity. In the 1950s Lotus began wrapping speculoos individually, which made the biscuit a standard partner to coffee in cafés. From the mid-1980s several airlines served it as an in-flight snack, which introduced it to travellers who had never heard of speculoos.

In 1986 Lotus launched the brand name Biscoff, a blend of "biscuit" and "coffee", and gradually introduced it in all its markets. In Belgium and the Netherlands the product was sold as Lotus Speculoos for a long time before it too became Biscoff. That change caused some public resentment and played a part in speculoos being added to Brussels's heritage inventory. Lotus Bakeries reported revenue of about €1.23 billion for 2024.

Is "speculoos" a generic term? Why Lotus uses "Biscoff"

Yes. "Speculoos" names a type of biscuit, not one company's product. In Belgium and elsewhere in Europe it is generally treated as a generic term, so any baker can sell speculoos and no single firm can own the word. That is a main reason Lotus built its international branding on Biscoff, which it can protect as a trademark. In the United States, Lotus registers Lotus and Biscoff as trademarks and describes the goods themselves as "speculoos" (caramelised biscuits). Many American shoppers, though, know the biscuit only as "Biscoff cookies", so the brand name often works as the everyday name for the product.

Speculoos spread

Speculoos spread (speculoospasta), now known in English as "cookie butter", began on Belgian television. In 2007 Els Scheppers, a marketing manager from Bornem, presented the idea on the Flemish inventors' programme De Bedenkers. A second contestant had a competing paste. Scheppers did not win the series, but she signed a deal with Lotus, and Lotus Speculoospasta reached Belgian shops in spring 2008. Similar products followed, including Trader Joe's Cookie Butter in the United States. Lotus's version is now sold as Biscoff Spread.

Speculoos abroad

Speculoos and the Belgian praline are the two Belgian sweets best known abroad, and they reached the world by different routes. The praline travelled as a luxury gift. Speculoos travelled as the small biscuit served with coffee in cafés and on aeroplanes, and later as a spread. Neither use requires knowing anything about Saint Nicholas, which helps explain how easily speculoos spread beyond Belgium.