“Slightly Gingery. The Ed Sheeran of cookies,” says the sign at Trader Joe’s. Can you guess? Speculoos, aka biscoff cookies. Now, I’m late to the biscoff cookie crazy. I’ve never really flown Delta, which is where a lot of people first encountered a 2-pack of those cinnamony, gingersnappy cookies. Long known in Belgium, those little cookies have been one of the positives airline passengers can point to about flying in the last few years.
Gingersnaps have been a favorite of mine since childhood, thanks to little purple bags of Pogen’s cookies. But I never paid much mind to speculoos. I mean, I’ve had a packet of them in my cupboard for the last several months, just languishing. So when I bumped into this blueberry mascarpone tart with a speculoos cookie crust, a light flicked on in my head.
Speculoos cookies would be perfect for ice cream sandwiches.
I will tell you, the speculoos cookies from Trader Joe’s are slightly different than the Lotus brand biscoff you can pick up at World Market. They’re a little less gingery and a little crumblier in texture. Either one will serve you well with ice cream. Speaking of ice cream, you could do vanilla, you could do cinnamon. But, it’s early fall, why not do fig?
Adapted from this Saveur fig ice cream, I’ve eliminated the eggs and allowed the figs to steep overnight. Roasting the figs first would further intensify the flavor, but I was impatient. You could also add a bit of brandy for a boozier grown up version.
In a 2-quart sauce pan, combine figs, cream, milk, honey, brown sugar, water, salt and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the figs begin to break down and become jammy.
Remove from the heat and stir in lemon juice and vanilla extract. Transfer to a bowl and chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Pour ice cream base into your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
Store the ice cream in a plastic container or metal bread pan and allow it to freeze completely until it forms scoops that hold together. Sandwich a scoop between two biscoff cookies.