Speculoos or pipari christmas cookie butter recipe

Today, I am making a cookie butter that can be used as a spread on bread, crêpes or simply eaten with a spoon. I myself will use it in place of the chocolate topping in the traditional French Christmas recipe; Bûche de Noël or Yule Log. (I will post the recipe and photos tomorrow.)

I am using the traditional Finnish gingerbread here (pipari), because I live in Finland and I always try to find cool ways to use the local (sometimes boring) stuff. But any cookie type will do. I have a preference for the Dutch cookies speculoos, if you can get a hold of those just try them. Nam nam!

Ingredients:

- 300g of pipari (gingerbread or speculaas)

- 200ml of liquid cream OR unsweetened condensed milk. I am using an oat based cream here.

- 80g of cold butter, diced.

- a Tablespoon of vanilla sugar. 

Optional: a pinch of sea salt. It gives it a fine touch.

In a saucepan, bring the cream and the vanilla sugar to a quick simmer to dissolve the sugar and infuse the vanilla. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

In a blender, grind the cookies and sea salt in small batches, until fine. Leave some bits if you like it crunchy.

Add the cream and the butter and blend until you get a smooth texture. 

That's it, store in the fridge for up to a week.