Speculoos Tiramisu

This Speculoos Tiramisu recipe is what happens when you combine delicious Belgian speculoos cookies with a classic Italian tiramisu. This light dessert is perfect for anyone that enjoys creamy, no-bake dessert recipes.

Speculoos Tiramisu is a perfect make-ahead dessert. It’s simple, tastes delightful, and looks wonderful! And what’s more? It’s great for parties. Why? Because tiramisu is something that many have tried and enjoyed, but the combination with coffee-soaked speculoos biscuits adds an individuality to your dessert that everyone will be talking about for weeks to come.

this recipe

What is speculoos tiramisu

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Speculoos tiramisu is a combination of speculoos cookies (the most popular in North America is Lotus Biscoff cookies), with Italian tiramisu. This is a light and airy dessert that’s perfect for anyone that is able to make their dessert ahead of time. Did I mention there’s no baking required? Simply prepare the dessert, and then pop it into the fridge to set.

What is speculoos

Speculoos (also known as, biscoff, speculaas or spekulatius, depending on where you are in the world) is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit with its origins in Belgium and the Netherlands. Speculoos is flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cardamom, meaning that speculoos biscuits have a warm and aromatic taste.

Speculoos vs biscoff

While speculoos and Biscoff cookies are technically the same type of cookie with the same basic flavor profile, you’ll find that homemade speculoos or traditional speculoos cookies have much more flavor to them. 

Lotus Biscoff cookies are a type of speculoos cookie, manufactured by Lotus Bakeries of Belgium. You’ll find that Lotus Biscoff cookies are slightly different in taste and texture to homemade or your local baker’s speculoos, but both cookies will work for this recipe. (I’ve used them before for this S’mores Pancake recipe.)

French Ch’tiramisu 

Biscoff tiramisu is also popular in the most Northern region of France (Hauts-de-France), where it is known as ch’tiramisu (a play on ch’tis, a colloquial nickname for locals of the region). It is very much a regional favorite, as I don’t recall ever seeing it in central or southern France when I lived there.

Ingredients

• Large eggs
• Granulated white sugar
• Mascarpone cheese (don’t swap this out with regular cream cheese!) 
• Pure vanilla extract
• Salt
• Speculoos cookies (i.e. Lotus Biscoff cookies or any other brand)
• Brewed coffee
• Unsweetened cocoa powder

How to make speculoos tiramisu

Set aside 4 short glasses or ramekins.

Begin with the hardest step in this recipe: separate the eggs. The yolks and the whites of the eggs should be placed into two large mixing bowls (make sure the bowls are very clean too). 

Prepare the egg yolks

Add the sugar to the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk until the mixture becomes pale and slightly foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the mascarpone and vanilla, whisk until mostly incorporated and set aside. (You can whisk by hand, or using an electric mixer on a low-medium setting.)

Prepare the egg whites

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whip, using an electric mixer on medium-high, until stiff peaks form. (Technically, you can also use your very strong whisking muscles. I use an electric mixer.)

Combine

Fold a quarter of the whisked egg whites into the egg yolk-mascarpone mixture. In three more equal batches, gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Stop mixing once incorporated. Please be gentle, bestie! You're looking for a fluffy mixture.

Build the tiramisu

Lightly dip the speculoos cookies in the brewed coffee (don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be hot). And then we can start building the speculoos tiramisus. At the bottom of each glass, start with a layer of cookies. Followed by a layer of the mascarpone cream, followed by another layer of cookies, and then mascarpone again. The top layer should be mascarpone cream.

Refrigerate the tiramisu for at least 3 hours. Dust with cocoa powder before serving. Enjoy!  

Tips

Separation anxiety. Make sure to properly separate your egg whites from their yolks. It’s easy to let a little while slip into your yolks bowl, and that can really mess with your whipping stage.

Be gentle. Make sure to be gentle when folding the egg whites into mascarpone mixture. Whisking or stirring quickly will deflate the mixture, and ruin the lovely fluffy texture you're going for with a tiramisu.

Dip don’t soak. Dip the speculoos cookies into the coffee quickly; don't leave the cookies in the coffee long at all. Speculoos cookies get soft relatively quickly, and will start to break down. We don't want that. If you have a bit of extra time, you can actually brush the coffee on to the cookies.

Patience. We all like to eat as soon as we can, but giving your tiramisu enough time to set in the fridge is very important.

Presentation. When preparing your speculoos tiramisus, the bottom layer should be cookies, and the top layer should be mascarpone. You can smooth the top with a spatula for the sake of clean presentation before adding a sprinkle of cocoa powder. 

Variation ideas

Classic tiramisu version. While I’ve prepared this biscoff tiramisu recipe using small glasses, you can just as easily go for a more traditional tiramisu recipe plating. That is, swap out the glasses for a small casserole dish. You may want to double or triple the recipe, depending on the size of your dish.

Coffee lovers unite. Like most tiramisus, this one involves dipping the biscuits into coffee. If you prefer a very strong coffee, you can use that. Or if you prefer espresso, you can use that too. Personally, I prefer a milder brewed instant coffee here. 

Boozy tiramisu? Traditional tiramisu recipes include some alcohol in the form of marsala wine or rum. I don’t include any alcohol in this recipe. Due to the different flavor of biscoff desserts, I’d suggest going with something like a chocolate or coffee liqueur if this is something you’d like to experiment with.

Biscoff spread layer. If you love the speculoos flavor of biscoff flavors, you can consider adding a layer of biscoff cookie butter between the layers of mascarpone cream. (If you want to do this and are worried that the recipe will be too speculoos-heavy, you can swap out the speculoos cookies for ladyfingers or something lighter, like pound cake.)

Storage suggestions

Speculoos tiramisu can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Final thoughts

Speculoos tiramisu is lovely, light and airy twist on a classic Italian tiramisu. The recipe adds the lovely spiced flavor of speculoos cookies, and it’s something I recommend everyone try at least once! What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.