Spiced speculoos flan

When I see the word speculoos it always makes me think of Paris, sitting at an outdoor café  having a café crème and people watching.

I never really paid much attention to the little package of cookies that came with the café crème except that they were good and usually hit the spot after sightseeing. It wasn’t until we started working on “Around My French Table”  by Dorie Greenspan that I realized what they were all about.  I remember one of the recipes Tricia and I had worked on together, she came up with a few of these delicious cookies that she actually saved and brought back from France and we used them as a prop.

As for speculoos butter, that is a new item to me, similar to peanut butter but with a gingersnap taste, really quite good.

For the caramel I used cinnamon instead of the Chinese five spice.  I have had the five spice for years and finally threw it out because I only used it once.  Perfect timing if ever.

As for the custard, it was really easy to prepare in the blender mixing the milk, speculoos butter, eggs and a pinch of salt.

I baked the ramekins in a water bath for 35 minutes and they came out perfectly set. After chilling them for a few hours I removed them from the ramekin and plated them for serving.

A delicious dessert that would be a welcome addition to any dinner.