Talk:Speculaas

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Comments[edit]

Maybe Hasselt is famous for its speculaas, but I don't think it's a typically Belgian biscuit. I've seen it more often in Holland anyway. I would just say it's from the Low Countries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 145.53.138.11 (talk • contribs) 18:23 29 April 2006 (UTC)

I think the Dutch version (Speculaas) is fairly different from the Belgium version. The Dutch version contains much more spices compared to the Belgium version. I have eaten both, and I find them very hard to compare. Arnoutf (talk) 20:16, 14 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

speculaas/speculoos[edit]

The NYT source cited in the sentence stating that speculaas originated in Eelko, Belgium does not cite this, hence this phrase was removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.206.119.252 (talk) 04:32, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Google might be showing more hits for speculoos, but it should be called speculaas mainly because speculaas is closer to the word speculator and speculatie (see dutch version) of wich it is possibly derived. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.80.192.91 (talk) 14:12, 28 December 2011 (UTC) Google search shows a lot more hits for speculoos then for speculaas (in English websites) so I think this article should be renamed.Nico (talk) 12:45, 25 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I moved it (but forgot the edit summary), but know I realized I checked on google.nl (but with English results only in advanced search), if I search with google.com speculoos still wins but the difference is much smaller. I someone things the move was inappropriate, please discus here.Nico (talk) 12:55, 25 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Almost every brand of speculaas I've seen on the shelves over the years uses "speculaas" - including brands that were not imports from the Netherlands. In fact, I found this article by googling "speculaas" (on North American google) and the only hit with "speculoos" was this article. 96.49.243.149 (talk) 21:56, 3 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The name is clearly NOT speculoos/speculaas but Spekulatius and it's place of origin is neither Belgium nor the Netherlands but Germany! This article is ridiculous and biased, clearly written by a Belgian or Dutch person! Articles on Wikipedia must be neutral and cite sources which this article, at least in the case of the place of origin, does not!!! --92.223.57.44 (talk) 06:58, 30 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have family in all three countries, and let me tell you that speculoos/speculaas (both are correct) is most popular in Belgium/the Netherlands. I asked my German relatives about "Spekulatius" and they had never heard of it... Go troll someone else. M. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.254.84.58 (talk) 14:36, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What matters is the name used in the English speaking world at present, not the most original name. (the origin of the food can of course be described in the article)Nico (talk) 13:58, 30 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

People, you can debate the name all you want, but as a Dutch person living in Belgium, I can tell you that they are in fact related but different types of products. Speculaas is the original Dutch recipe, using speculaaskruiden (speculaas herbs), a mix including a.o. cinnamon, nut meg and clove. Even the speculaas you can occasionally buy in Belgium has these herbs. Speculoos (literally: Specu-less, without speculaas herbs), is a related but sweeter product with a similar structure that does not has these specific herbs, but uses caramel and sugar instead. The speculoos is much more popular in Belgium, and almost non-existant in the Netherlands. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.128.116.165 (talk) 06:14, 24 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I totally agree with the above. I'm Dutch and can verify that speculoos means "specu-less". Speculaas and Speculoos are not the same Cbetta (talk) 14:18, 6 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I (Flemish living in Netherlands) disagree. 'Loos' indeed mean without, but not necessary (what would 'laas' mean than?). The origin of the words is explained in the etymologiebank. About the herbs: it is definitely true that the Dutch version contains more of them in average, but the difference between different brands is bigger than the difference between countries, for example the Dutch speculaas from c1000 is very sweet.Nico (talk) 13:59, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In the USA "speculoos" is a cookie butter made from speculaas cookies. [1] [2] "Speculaas" is the cookie though and should be the name of this article. [3] [4] [5] 76.221.213.176 (talk) 12:35, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ http://traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/561
  2. ^ http://www.speculoos.us/
  3. ^ http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/spiced-star-cookies-speculaas-recipe
  4. ^ http://www.marthastewart.com/343667/speculaas-cookies
  5. ^ http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/steenstras-cookie-legend/

Sugar used.[edit]

It's my understanding, from reading European food forums and chefs' baking blogs, that when Europeans use "brown sugar" in speculoos (or anything else), they mean a raw, less refined type of cane sugar. (Cane sugar is the preferred variety in Europe.) However, in the USA, "brown sugar" is merely very refined white sugar, cane or beet, with a little of the stripped molasses re-added, then spun to mix. The spinning creates fluffiness, hence recipe instructions to firmly pack US-type brown sugar tightly into a measuring cup - in order to squeeze out the air spaces between crystals.

European-type brown sugar is also called cassonade, turbinado, demerara, or "raw" cane sugar. Either one or more of these items are currently available in US supermarkets or health food stores. Popular European brands are "Daddy" and "Saint Louis", but they are hard to find in the USA. Another option is jaggery, frequently sold in a hard, pressed cone shape, at your local Indian market - even many small cities in the US now have access to one. Coarse grate it in order to retain the granularity.

This type of raw cane sugar is used in the cookies not just for imparting a more subtle sweetness than refined sugar, but also to add a more robust flavor and increased texture due to coarse granularity of the product.

1. More: cassonade "[These] forums are a service of the Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to advancement of the culinary arts." [|Homepage]

Thank you, Wordreader (talk) 19:07, 10 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Dutch brown sugar is almost exactly how you describe the US brown sugar and is almost always beet sugar (which is grown in large quantities in the Netherlands while the climate does not allow for sugarcane). Cane sugar is much rarer and more expensive in the Netherlands, and more likely to be found in specialty shops/sections rather than as mainstream sugar types. Arnoutf (talk) 18:11, 7 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like a advert for these Belgium firms selling a "speculoos" spread.[edit]

The second reference is clearly commercial for Speculoos spread and has no business in this article as a reference.

Very disappointed to read this in Wikipedia as most would agree it is related to Dutch Sinterklaas celebrations and the Dutch East Indies spice trade. Parts of the article seem to be copied nearly wholesale from other commercial websites. As someone raised by dutch parents eating Speculaas sandwiches is also a very common southern Dutch practice and my experience goes to the middle 1950's.

Just as French claim Hollandaise sauce where the earliest recipes are from Holland using eggs and vinegar. But rewriting history seems to be very common these days. I guess people will believe what they want, good luck.

Spices are not related to the VOC, but were already used in medieval cuisine[edit]

The spices have little to do with Dutch East Indies spice trade. In fact, the spices were used even more extensively in (late-)medieval cuisine, where they were used not only in sweet pastry, but also in sauces to accompany meat, fish or vegetables. See the Wikipedia article on Medieval Cuisine Cmuusers (talk) 11:00, 23 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Windmill cookie[edit]

This redirects to this page. There should be something on this page about them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.29.4.151 (talk) 01:34, 4 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Speculoos tastes real different from speculaas[edit]

They don't taste the same at all, completely different cookies in terms of taste. The Belgian one tastes better, of course, I don't know if it's due to the different formula or due to the fact that Belgian foods just always taste better for some reason. Just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone's curious. Dapperedavid (talk) 20:11, 21 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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