Monday 16 June 2008

Recipe: Wrapuloos

Pate De Speculoos Whilst on my travels in Belgium I made a remarkable gastronomic discovery. Please leave aside the fact that I only needed to travel to the local hypermarket, not half way round the world, while I present to you, in the spirit of Cortes bringing Chocolate to Europe, Pâte de Speculoos.

Any visitor to Northern France or Belgium has probably sampled Speculoos - thin biscuits with a delicious cinnamon and caramelised sugar flavour, often served with Coffee - under the awning of the many Cafés they surely visited. But you needn't go travelling to taste these flavoursome confections: they're sold in the UK and Europe under the Lotus brand, or in the US by Biscoff.

Now imagine those very same biscuits, crushed and blended into a rich paste and you have Pâte de Speculoos - also made by Lotus; the flavour is no longer locked in a biscuit chained to a coffee cup - only let your watering taste buds guide your imagination as you concoct and confect.

Guided by my taste buds, I tried spreading the paste on a Tortilla wrap. When eaten straight after crisping the wrap under a hot grill, the result was delicious. The wrap gives a crisp, firm bite from which the warm cinnamon flavour oozes.

Such a creation surely deserves a name; I've settled on Wrapuloos.

How to make them

  1. Lay out a Tortilla wrap, and spread Pâte de Speculoos liberally over the centre. Don't spread right up to the edges - leave a border of about 2 inches.
  2. Fold over two opposite sides of the wrap to make a long rectangle with rounded ends. Now roll up the wrap like a Swiss Roll, starting with one of the rounded ends. Once rolled, stick the other end down with a little more paste.
  3. Spread a little light brown sugar on the flat side of the roll.
  4. Place under a hot grill under the sugar begins to caramelise.
  5. Eat immediately.

So next time you visit the Belgium or France, buy yourself a jar of Pâte de Speculoos. And bring me one back too: they don't sell it at my supermarket yet.

[Update]

From the web, a recipe for Muffins made with Speculoos paste, in French though; here's an almost intelligible English translation by google.

[Update: 12/11/2008]

I've now found an online retailer that will ship all over the world. Order your Pâte de Speculoos from Waffle Cafe today! As of now, you'll pay around £3 per jar, with shipping in the UK about £4 per order.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My daughter's friend brought over some Speculoos paste when she came to visit the US this summer. Fabulous stuff! Like a gingerbread spread. We spread it on Belgian pancakes they made for us. Since I can't make those, my favorite way to eat it is spread on a graham cracker. Unfortunately, my one jar is gone. I'm looking for it here in NC. Any suggestions? I've only seen it on UK or Belgian ebay sites.

Rudy said...

Pâte de Spekulatius habe ich in Belgien bei Aldi bekommen und wird Mostert de Spekulatius Slber hersellen einen war es bis heute noch nicht gibt.
Rudy

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