Biscoff needs no introduction to your customers, which is most of the work done before you have made anything. This is the biscuit itself, crushed into a loose, golden crumb, ready to scatter, press or fold without anyone having to take a rolling pin to a packet.

The flavour is a familiar one: caramelised sugar, cinnamon and a toasted, malty edge, sweet enough to carry a dessert on its own. Because the crumb is dry and fairly coarse it stays visible on top of a finish rather than dissolving into it, and it presses into a base without turning to powder.

What Is Speculoos? 

Speculoos is the spiced Belgian biscuit that Lotus Biscoff is made from, and the two names describe the same thing: a thin, caramelised biscuit flavoured with cinnamon and a little brown sugar. It is not a gingerbread, although it is often mistaken for one: there is no ginger in it at all, and the warmth comes from the cinnamon and the caramelisation of the sugar during baking. Our crumb is made in Belgium from the original biscuit.

How to Use Lotus Biscoff Crumb 

Scatter over a glaze, a buttercream, a soft serve ice cream or a cheesecake, and do it last so the crumb stays dry. As a base, mix roughly 100g of crumb to 40g of melted butter, press into a tin and chill until firm; the biscuit is already sweet, so there is no need to add sugar. The crumb is also good pressed onto the sides of a finished cake, where a coarser crumb clings better than a fine one.

Troubleshooting 

Moisture is the only real enemy. On a wet mousse, a fruit layer or freshly whipped cream the crumb draws water and goes soft within a few hours, so scatter at service or lay it on something fatty. A thin brush of cocoa butter or melted chocolate under a biscuit base does the same job and keeps it crisp for days.

Store the bag closed and at ambient temperature. The crumb picks up moisture from a damp kitchen faster than a whole biscuit does because there is so much more surface area, and once it has softened it will not crisp up again.

Pairings and Ideas

Biscoff pair beautifully with white chocolate, banana, coffee, caramel, apple, pear and cream cheese, and it is one of the few flavours that will carry a dessert with no other flavour in it at all.

• Through a flapjack, as in our Biscoff White Chocolate Flapjacks
• In a white chocolate tablet, as in our White Chocolate Blueberry & Biscoff Tablet
• Around the rim of a speculoos hot chocolate, as in our Speculoos Hot Chocolate
• As the base of a baked or set cheesecake, in place of a digestive crumb
• Layered through a banoffee or a banana pudding
• Scattered over a soft serve or a gelato at service