Biscoff started on airline trays in the '90s. Now it's in cookies, cakes, and your pantry. Here's everything you need to know.
In Europe, though, Biscoff is more than a plane snack. It's a pantry staple and here's why the Europeans are so obsessed with it.
Biscoff is a Belgian brand that makes both caramelized speculoos-style biscuits (cookies, if you're in the U.S.) and a matching spread with the same warm, spiced flavor. The cookies are delicious on their own, but the spread is where things get really fun - it's arguably even more irresistible than the biscuits.
Biscoff spread, also known as cookie butter, is made by blending those cookies into a smooth, creamy paste that tastes like liquified caramelized cookies with a hint of spice. Once you have a jar, the ways to use it are nearly endless, from drizzling and swirling to baking and frosting.
Both are pretty damn good, though I think the spread is more exceptional than the biscuits.
It Started in a Belgian Village in 1932
Biscoff traces its roots to Lembeke, a small Flemish village in Belgium - population 3,600 - where baker Jan Boone Sr. created a caramelized spiced cookie called speculoos. Speculoos are a traditional Belgian and Dutch treat, historically given to children on Sint Niklaas Day (December 6th) and used to celebrate weddings and births. They were warmly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, with a deeply caramelized crunch that came from a very specific baking technique: the sugar in the dough caramelizes during baking, creating that distinctive slightly-burnt, butterscotch-adjacent sweetness you can't quite place but absolutely can't stop eating.
By the 1950s, Jan Boone's Lotus Bakeries had started selling individual cookies in their iconic red wrappers, and they became a fixture in Belgian cafés - always served alongside coffee. The coffee pairing wasn't accidental. The cookie's spiced caramel flavor cuts through the bitterness of espresso in a way that feels almost engineered. Which, honestly, it kind of was.
The Name "Biscoff" Is a Pun
When Lotus Bakeries brought the cookie to the United States, they needed a new name - Americans weren't exactly searching for "speculoos". Their solution was brilliant in its simplicity: Biscoff = Biscuit + Coffee. The name did exactly what great branding should do: it told you what it was, how to enjoy it, and why it was special, all in six letters.
They pitched it as "Europe's Favorite Cookie with Coffee" and landed a partnership with Delta Air Lines in the 1980s, serving Biscoff on flights. That single move changed everything. Millions of passengers encountered Biscoff at 35,000 feet, fell in love, and went looking for it at home.
When Delta Airlines briefly tried to replace Biscoff with Oreo Thins in 2020, passengers revolted online. "You can take my legroom, but you can never have my Biscoffs," wrote one furious traveler. Delta brought them back.
The Spread Changed Everything
For decades Biscoff was a cookie. Then in 2007, a contestant on a Belgian TV show called Coooking - a Shark Tank-style food invention program - proposed turning the cookie into a spreadable butter. Lotus Bakeries ran with the idea, and Biscoff Spread (also called cookie butter) was born. It tastes exactly like the cookie in creamy, peanut-butter-like form - and it unlocked an entirely new universe of recipes.
Food bloggers went wild. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when home baking surged, Biscoff spread became the comfort ingredient of the moment - swirled into cheesecakes, folded into buttercream, spooned straight from the jar at midnight. Today the Lembeke factory produces six billion Biscoff cookies every year, and 67% of all Belgian households have a Lotus product in their kitchen. It's now the world's fifth most popular cookie.
So What Does It Actually Taste Like?
If you've never had it: imagine a shortbread cookie that took a detour through a caramel factory, picked up hints of cinnamon, brown sugar, and warm spice, then came out the other side impossibly crunchy and light. It's not chocolate. It's not vanilla. It's its own entirely unique flavor - sweet but not cloying, spiced but not sharp, caramelized but not burnt. That's exactly why it works in so many recipes: it adds depth and warmth without competing with other flavors.
The spread has the same flavor profile in a silky, scoopable form - and it comes in both smooth and crunchy versions (the crunchy one has crushed cookie pieces folded in, and it is objectively excellent).
Biscoff vs. Speculoos: Are They the Same Thing?
Technically, speculoos is the broader category - traditional spiced caramelized biscuits from Belgium and the Netherlands. Biscoff is Lotus Bakeries' branded version, specifically sold under that name in the US and UK. Other brands make speculoos-style cookies, and Trader Joe's sells their own version called Speculoos Cookie Butter - but Lotus Biscoff is the original and, most bakers would argue, still the best.
| Question | Biscoff | Speculoos |
|---|---|---|
| What it is? | Lotus Bakeries' branded cookie | Traditional Belgian/Dutch cookie category |
| Where you'll find it? | Supermarkets, flights, online | European bakeries, specialty stores |
| Spread available? | Yes — smooth and crunchy | Some brands make it |
| Flavor | Caramel, cinnamon, warm spice | Similar, varies by maker |
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