This may sound weird, but does anyone know what kind of cinnamon Belgium's use?

M

marilynfl

Moderator
That sentence needs a bit more clarification.

I've been testing various recipes to try and clone Biscoff's (aka Delta's cookie snack) and while getting close, the cinnamon is always either too aggressive or not aggressive enough.

Meanwhile, I bought several cinnamons from Penzey's in a single-handed effort keep that company's stock afloat. I have Vietnamese, Ceylon, China and Indonesian. Then I was at a spice shop in St. Petersburg and they sold "REAL organic cinnamon" (Ceylon versus Saigon) which made me suddenly question what I'd bought from Penzey.

Anyway...that's when I realized Belgium cooks may be using something totally different. Does anyone know?

PS: The latest samples I using as comparison are Piroucrisp and are "baked" in Belgium by Pirouline.

http://pirouline.com/product/piroucrisp/

 
Well, if you got a recipe and it nailed Biscoffs EXCEPT for the cinnamon. . .

If your cinnamon in the recipe seems too much, try another batch and lessen the cinnamon and vice versa if the cinnamon flavor seems to be lacking?

You can send samples to me and I will give you my unbiased opinion--and you won't have too many around your house. . . smileys/smile.gif

 
I would be tempted to combine all of them and give a good shake. I can hear the groans, but

you might have a wonderful blend. another but, I confess to having just one cinnamon usually---the Kirkland Costco brand, so I'm not much help.

 
There is a slice mix called speculaas

I've been trying to copy the speculaas cookies from Holland that are similar to Biscoff. Don't know what the blend is but I bought some to try. Haven't made them yet.

 
The clone recipes all seem to dictate that Biscoff is pure cinnamon, while speculaas use

the blend.

What I'm trying to get is the "caramelized" aspect. Not sure if that's a function of their baking process--like Belgium waffles use a hotter iron to caramelize the sugars in the waffle...hotter than American waffle machines.

 
That's one method I'm working with. Also thinking of covering

the dough with another pan to add a secondary heat source for half the baking time. However, that would impact the rising issue.

 
I was making Snickerdoodles recenty and found I had run out of my normal Costco cinnamon. I had...

...a few sticks of Mexican cinnamon left over from making Mexican Hot Chocolate. I put them in my spice grinder and ground them to a fine powder. I used them in place of my regular cinnamon.

The results were striking. The cinnamon flavor was not as sharp and somewhat less strong than an equal amount of Saigon (Costco) cinnamon. It was more mellow, and had a sweeter depth of flavor... more rounded and full, if that makes any sense. (I would use words like "oaky" and "hints of blackberry", but you'd know I was tipsy.)

I don't know if you've tried Mexican cinnamon sticks, but I thought I'd throw that info into the ring.

Good luck!

Michael

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mexican-cinnamon.htm

 
I'd bet it's Ceylon cinnamon, Marilyn.

When I moved to the US, I couldn't understand why my cinnamon buns tasted so flat. Then I found out that in the USA, the cinnamon is actually cassia. Once I started buying Ceylon cinnamon from Penzey's, they were much better.

I prefer cassia in meat dishes, but for baking, I'll stick to Ceylon. I'd guess European recipes would use Ceylon.

 
speculaas or speculoos mix

Speculaas cookies and baked goods are common here. They are made with a blend of spices that we just call 'speculaas' spices. It contains powdered cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamon and pepper-- not sure in what quantities of each. The closest thing to it in the US is pumpkin pie spice, I think, but speculaas is a little sharper in taste than that.

 
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