No Bake Speculoos Pie : A Valentine Guest Post by Eat Live Burp

It was sometime in 2013 that I came across Eat Live Burp and the name stuck with me. Julia Roberts is one of my favorite actress. After she appeared in the movie Eat Pray and Love, I was compelled to buy the book and read it. It’s a different story that book turned out to be more capturing, nonetheless Julia’s work has always been spotless. Now that’s why Eat Live Burp stuck with me. I started digging it more and more and then followed it. Honestly, I didn’t know Pavithra by name then. She was ELB for me until we interacted more and she introduced her name. I loved her features where she covered the Bloggers’ Meet in Seattle, a beautiful romantic city….little wet, little dusky, little cozy, little cold with warm sun trying to make it on the floor through those gorgeous clouds. Seattle has an oomph factor to it. Agree with me Pavithra? Her blog is so refreshing and honest, made of all things real with a zing of this and the zest of that :).

Some of my Favorites from her blog are :
No Bake Nutella Fudge
Potato Chip Spirals
Vegan Tofu Lettuce Wraps
The list is going to be endless, so be sure to visit her kitchen and check out some real life food and goodies.

On we go to Pavithra @ Eat Live Burp

No-Bake Speculoos Pie

Sonal @ simplyvegetarian777 reached out to me few weeks back asking me to do a guest post on her uber healthy vegetarian food blog. I wanted to post something special for Sonal and with Valentines day coming up, I knew this no-bake Speculoos pie would be perfect. It is not exactly a healthy treat, but Valentines day comes only once a year, so indulge!

My love story with Speculoos started roughly about 7 years ago when I flew United Airlines from Newark to Chicago in coach class. They served freshly brewed Starbucks and a twin pack of Biscoff biscuits. I opened the package, took a bite and honestly it was love at first bite. It was crispy, crunchy just like the biscuits (not soft cookies) I was used to back home in India and it tasted great whether dunked into coffee or not. I had to wait till I got the hotel (days of no smart phone, minus a few blackberries of course) to find out more about these delicious cookies I had eaten on the plane. It turned out that these biscuits were available for purchase only through the Biscoff website and they were European (I should have known from the texture). About 4 years later, Trader Joe’s started carrying something called “bistro biscuits” which tasted very similar to Biscoff. I started to hoard and I am glad I did, because they soon discontinued these biscuits. Within a year i started seeing Lotus Biscoff cookies in most grocery stores and then last year the market was all about cookie butters. Imagine my excitement, biscoff+biscoff butter? Yum-o!!!

Trader Joe’s reintroduced bistro biscuits, this time they were called speculoos cookies and the speculoos butter. Speculoos biscuits and cookie butter are vegan and this recipe can be easily veganized by using dairy free cream cheese and whipping cream. I had sampled the butter at Costco and Trader Joe’s, but could never bring myself to buy a jar, fearing that I’d finish it in one sitting. There is something addictive about the ginger bread, cinnamon flavor in this butter, you really have to taste it to know what I am talking about. Anyway, I had seen this recipe for a no-bake pie few months ago and I wanted to make it for an occasion worth remembering. Then came super bowl and it was the perfect occasion to make this simple and outrageously delicious pie to celebrate the Seahawks. This silky smooth pie is not overly sweet and makes for a great special occasion treat. So if you are looking for a last minute Valentine dessert, look no furtherJ

Ingredients for crust
25-30 speculoos cookies (Trader joe’s speculoos has about 24)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Ingredients for the filling
1 cup whipping cream
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup cookie butter
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

Method
1. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Add butter and pulse until well combined. Press the cookie mixture into the bottom of a pie pan.
2. Beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks are formed. Add cream cheese and cookie butter, beat until combined.
3. Add powdered sugar and salt, beat until the filling is smooth.
4. Pour filling over the crust.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
6. Melt remaining cookie butter and drizzle on top of each slice before serving.