Biscoff, cookie monster?

[HillJ]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/din...

"The conflict began more than three years ago when a woman won a television contest for inventions with a spread made from speculoos, a caramelized cookie also known as biscoff or, thanks to its ubiquity on Delta Air Lines flights, the airline cookie."

Biscoff's speculoos paste is delicious and a nice alternative to peanut butter or Nutella and is clearly going after the same consumer dollar.

[pdxgastro]

I wish they'd publish the recipe. I have an open packet of Biscoff I fell out of love with. I was going to crush them up to make a pie crust but the spread sounds yummier.

[Pylon]

I got a chance to try this in Belgium. I was willing to miss my flight home to acquire a jar to bring back. It's like heaven that has been jarred.

[small h]

I read this article closely, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how a cookie transmogrifies into a sandwich spread. I like to think I have pretty good reading comprehension (and a working knowledge of cookies), so I am terribly embarrassed by this. Help?

[HillJ]

Two different products are created using the formulated paste recipe. One an extruded cookie (I've known them as Biscoff cookies) and one as a spread (jarred, similar in texture to peanut butter or Nutella). If you visit the Biscoff website http://www.biscoff.com/DirectionsWEB/... you will see the product line.

[small h]

Oh! That does clear things up. And raises some other questions - are there any other instances of a paste that functions as both a cookie and a spread? It seems very futuristic, somehow.

[HillJ]

Nutella for one. Almond paste another. It's not at all a new concept.

Another example of a base recipe is the various directions a simple batter can go, from muffin/cake to pancake/waffle to cookie to coating with some minor tweaking.

But for the purpose of this article the "argument" lies in the practice of tweaking recipe formula and who owns the concept of origin. A topic that continues to fascinate me. Big business has a point of view and strong hold to fight for what equates to big dollars.

Yes, lots to learn from.

[small h]

Well, Nutella and marzipan are pastes that can be used in cookies. They aren't cookies that can be made into spreads, so this case is a bit different.

I'm also interested in the debate over whether recipes should be subject to copyright, which seems analogous to music sampling - how much can you replicate before you've taken "too much"?

[HillJ]

small h, the paste from Biscoff is a combination of ingredients; not just one ingredient. That combo of ingred. can be whipped, baked, extruded, etc. Same with a recipe calling for the paste from almonds or the base ingred from a jar of Nutella. Which is why I mentioned the two.

Trademark is also at stake. The recipe stems from quite a well documented history. I'll leave it to legal counsel to fight out the details but I'll be reading along the way.

[jeanmarieok]

OK - I'd buy it. I'll be looking for it. I love the cookies.