There was a time not long ago when Americans only ate speculoos cookies – the cookies at the core of the now mega-popular cookie butter – in the sky.

When you think of cookie butter (for me this is a lot of the time), who do you think is responsible for it? Many of us think of Trader Joe’s, who debuted their Speculoos Cookie Butter around 2011, had several varieties by 2013, and started putting it in just about everything by 2015, including cream cheese!

But the U.S. origins of speculoos date back to 1985, when Delta Airlines started offering them as the in-flight snack after realizing how freaking good they were. Some genius food broker from the U.S. named Michael McGuire traveled to Europe and tried Lotus Bakeries’ speculoos cookies (a product of Belgium), and introduced them to Delta upon his return. The rest, as they say, is history.

So where am I going with this history lesson you didn’t ask for?

I don’t know, but I may never fly again, because my freezer is filled with cookie butter.

Lotus Biscoff Ice Cream

The original brand responsible for it all has brought Lotus Biscoff Ice Cream to the U.S. market, and you can already buy it in a ton of flavors. But the flavor we’re all excited about right now is the ORIGINAL cookie butter. Trader Joe’s has a Cookie Butter Ice Cream too, but while their cookie butter is amazing, their ice cream is AWFUL.

This Lotus Biscoff Ice Cream has also been imported from Europe yet again, where it’s existed the last few years. The namesake flavor keeps it simple with cookie butter ice cream and crunchy Lotus Biscoff cookies, while the other flavors add components like chocolate chips, salted caramel, blueberry cheesecake, and dark chocolate brownies.

They all sound lovely, but main focus is the original.

The first thing you’ll notice before even open the lid is how light this ice cream is. Thankfully it uses real dairy, but you can tell they pumped a lot of air into this ice cream. A less than auspicious start…

Thankfully the smattering of Lotus Biscoff Cookies on top got me excited again. This may be a light ice cream in body, but it’s not light on flavor. I quickly tasted all the things I know and love about cookie butter, like their signature spices… just in a colder form. They really did a good job capturing the flavor.

A better richness would have helped, though, and there are other minor complaints that surface. The cookies aren’t as crunchy as advertised, and past the smattering of crumbs on the top, the density begins to die down. Thankfully the ice cream itself has a pretty solid cookie butter flavor to make up for the uneven chews.

All the varieties are flavorful with interesting nuances. My favorite was the salted caramel because of how well the caramel paired with the cookie butter ice cream. The blueberry cheesecake one is the most fun because of a vibrant blueberry swirl, and how often do you see blueberry cheesecake paired with cookie butter? (Never.) But both blueberry and the chocolate brownie one do take a lot of flavor away from the cookie butter ice cream – especially the chocolate brownie one because it also mixes in a chocolate ice cream. Still, having options is a good thing.

Lotus Biscoff Ice Cream is a great get for the U.S. It is the best cookie butter ice cream readily available on stores shelves; however, I can’t not admit it’s several notches below the phenomenal – but discontinued –  Blue Bunny Cookie Butter Ice Cream. That said, it successfully captures the flavor of the internationally-beloved speculoos cookie and is a welcome addition to the frozen aisle.

Now if only Delta Airlines would start giving out ice cream…

Burning Questions:

1. How would they keep it cold? I don’t f*cking know…
2. Which was the best flavor? Salted caramel.
3. Should I book airfare just to eat cookies? Yes.

Place of Purchase: Target

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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