I LOVE speculoos, my favorite ones were made by a small Belgian artisanal bakery, their speculoos were crunchy and the flavor was very, very buttery, their cookie butter was amazing too, but unfortunately both contain butter so it's a no-no now. I'm a huge cookie butter fan. The thing is, I never buy it because #1 it's basically a mix of sugar and oil and #2 I have no self-control when there is a jar of cookie butter in the house.
This cheesecake tastes exactly like cookie butter from a jar and is made entirely from scratch. You start by making the speculoos (biscoff cookies), then grind them into a fine powder and blend with the basic raw cheesecake ingredients: soaked cashews, coconut oil, maple syrup and some vanilla for extra flavor.
Did I mention each slice is only 12504 calories? Yes this cheesecake is very rich but a treat once (or twice) in a while is okay, right? Especially at this time of the year, we are already screwed anyway with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming.
The crust requires only 5 minutes to prepare, it's a mix of pitted dates and nuts. I used cashews but you can use peanuts or almonds. I also tried with roasted hazelnuts but I found out it was not going too well with the cookie butter filling. Do not use medjool dates here, they would be too moist, I recommend deglet noor.
The speculoos cookies are very easy to make, ready in 25 minutes, but if you want to save time feel free to use store-bought biscoff cookies. Speculoos are first grinded into a fine powder, it helps make the filling very creamy since the powder will dissolve better in the blender.
Coconut oil makes the filling harden when cold. The coconut taste is very subtle, if not imperceptible, but if you can't stand it at all, use refined coconut oil. It has a completely bland taste.
This cheesecake has the perfect consistency, you can cut slices easily and it's slightly softer if you let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
If you are looking for a creamy, cinnamon-y and delicious cheesecake with a caramelized flavor, look no further. This cheesecake is a winner, it will get you into the Christmas spirit after just one spoonful!
It's also the perfect Thanksgiving dessert, serve it with coconut whipped cream or custard sauce!
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe and if you succeed eating only one slice!
Vegan Cookie Butter Cheesecake
Ingredients
Speculoos cookies
- ⅓ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- 2 tablespoon almond milk
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- a small pinch of cloves
Crust
- 1 cup pitted dates
- 1 cup raw cashews
Cheesecake
- 2 and ½ cup raw cashews soaked for at least 4 hours
- 1 cup speculoos powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ⅔ cup coconut oil melted
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Speculoos cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine together the brown sugar, melted coconut oil and almond milk and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cloves. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, until well combined. If the dough is too dry, add one or two teaspoons of almond milk.
- Roll out the dough to a ¼ inch thickness and cut into squares or rectangles. Place each cookie on the baking sheet and bake for about 18-20 minutes. The speculoos should be golden brown and firm on the edges. They will still be soft on the inside but will firm up as they cool.
- Let cool for at least 30 minutes. Set one or two cookies aside to use as a topping later. Place the speculoos cookies in the bowl of a food processor and process until you get a very fine powder. You will get about 1 cup of speculoos powder.
Crust
- Add the cashews and pitted dates to the bowl of a food processor and process until it looks like a meal, about 30 seconds, you want to see small bits of cashews. Test the crust by forming a ball with your fingers, if should stick together well.
- Line a baking sheet or a large and flat plate with parchment paper. Place a 8-inch springform pan on top. Transfer the crust mixture into the springform pan and press it down very firmly with your hands, or with a glass covered with parchment paper to make sure the crust doesn't stick to the bottom of the glass. Set aside.
Cheesecake
- Drain and rince the cashews. Place them with the speculoos powder, maple syrup, coconut oil, almond milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a blender and mix until completely smooth, for about 3-4 minutes. Make sure to scrap down the sides of the blender regularly. The mixture will be very thick. Pour the cheesecake mixture in the springform pan and smooth the top using the back of a spoon or a spatula. Top with crushed speculoos if you want.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or until the cheesecake is firm. Remove from the springform pan and cut into squares or slices. To me it has the perfect consistency right from the refrigerator, but if you prefer a softer texture, let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with vanilla custard sauce, whipped cream, or as is.
- The cheesecake will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for several weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
I think you'd be better off using speculaas spices instead of cinnamon (ps. ask anyone in the Netherlands what 'speculoos' is and they'll look at you strangely haha). Anyway, everyone has their own recipe for speculaas spice mix but I found this one to be quite good:
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground mace
1/3 tsp ground ginger
1/5 tsp ground white pepper (a pinch)
1/5 tsp ground cardamom (a pinch)
1/5 tsp ground coriander seeds (a pinch)
1/5 tsp ground anise seeds (a pinch)
1/5 tsp grated nutmeg (a pinch)
Thanks for the tip Monique. However I'm talking about speculoos and cookie butter here, not speculaas. Speculoos/cookie butter are flavored only with cinnamon, and sometimes a very little amount of nutmeg, but that's all. I had the chance to taste speculaas and loved them, but the taste is still different due to the use of more spices.
Thanks Thomas! 🙂
Hello,
Thank you for this tasty recipe !
I used peanut for the crust and the cheesecake (I've to renew my cashew stock). I also add a bit of chocolate in the cheesecake. It was very good but the peanut flavor took over the speculoos. I ate a quarter 🙂
I found it odd that the crust wasn't baked so I tried to bake it. It went out well, very crispy (10' @ 180°C).
I know I've changed a few things in the original recipe but I mostly wanted to thank you for the work you're doing here 🙂
Also, I'm curious, are you based in Belgium, if not where ?
Bye !
Hello Martin,
You're welcome! I didn't bake the crust because I prefer a softer crust but glad to hear it worked well when baked!
No problem, it's always good to experiment and improvise! Thanks for the kind words 😉
I'm based in France, so I'm not too far from Belgium! Before being vegan I used to love the spectaculoos speculoos 🙂
Hi,
Can I use store bought speculoos cookies instead of baking?
Hi Kaavya, sure!
This is a really fun and scrumptious dessert that didn't last very long in my household. The only hard part was waiting 3 hours while it cooled. 😉 Thanks for the awesome recipe, Thomas!
Thanks for your feedback Scott!