Speculoos Cookie & Cocoa Swirl Spread

First time trying Trader Joe's cult favorite Speculoos Cookie & Cocoa Swirl spread! It's a combination of the cookie and cocoa spread, mixed into one. Amazing. I love how you can see the two different spreads in a vertical pattern in the jar! Trader Joe's original creations are the cookie butter and the crunchy cookie butter. I've tried the crunchy cookie butter before, which has small cookie pieces in a peanut butter-like consistency with hints of gingerbread, nutmeg, and cinnamon flavors. Yum!

Speculoos is actually a product of the Netherlands, which is not surprising considering that the term speculoos is a type of ginger shortbread biscuit traditionally eaten on St. Nicholas' feast in the Netherlands and Belgium. These biscuits have some sort of image pertaining to the holiday and are made of many spices: ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper. Trader Joe's cookie butter is basically spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon, and a whole lot of sugar. I'm glad that it does not have too many spices in it since I'm not a fan of high spiced snacks, such as gingersnaps.

Apparently the cookie butter is so high in demand that it's not always available at your local Trader Joe's, although I haven't frequented the store enough to confirm this. I also heard it's really popular in the Philippines and Singapore and it's been such a food craze that Trader Joe's had to limit one per customer. Yikes!

If you don't live near a Trader Joe's, you can also buy these on Amazon and Ebay! They, however, will be more expensive compared to the in-store retail price of $3.99 per jar.

Also, it doesn't rank high on the health scale so be careful -- because you won't be able to put your spoon down once it hits the jar! :)