Can you believe it is actually December yet? As Christmas time is approaching so are the delicious treats! Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Especially the weeks before Christmas eve are filled with dear childhood memories of cozy family evenings with tea, hot chocolate, christmas cookies, playing classic card games, watching christmas movies and listening to our favorite holiday music. For this year’s celebration I’ve experimented with one of my absolute favorite flavours – Speculoos/Spekulatius – and created this dreamy layered speculoos white chocolate cream parfait.
If you have absolutely no idea what speculoos/spekulatius is, you’re missing out. I’m not sure if it’s a thing in the US/Australia/Canada, but in Europe (or at least Germany and The Netherlands) it’s huge. It’s a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit traditionally baked just around Christmas time. Speculoos are thin, very crunchy, caramelized, slightly browned and, always have some sort of image stamped on the front side (traditionally from the stories about St. Nicholas).
In case you’ve never tried them and find yourself in Europe around October-December, make sure to get your hands on those biscuits and thank me later! They have a very unique flavour (a bit like gingerbread), which brings up all those wonderful Christmas memories for me. Alternatively, you can always whip up your own blend with a bunch of spices (check here).
So, for this year’s Christmas feast I’ve come up with a dessert that combines all the goodness into one beautiful parfait. This Layered Speculoos White Chocolate Cream Parfait, as the name suggests, is made up of 3 different layers: White chocolate cream, hot vanilla cherry compote, and speculoos cookie crumble. Perfection in its simplest forms! 🙂 My mother had the pleasure of eating the first round of parfaits when I made them and absolutely fell in love. Hence she has been hovering over me for the recipe since weeks! 😉
Now, finding good white vegan chocolate is not a simple task, but thankfully my friends from iChoc got me covered. If you have been vegan for a while or simply try to avoid dairy, you know the struggle when it comes to chocolate. Yes, dark chocolate is great, much more healthy and by now I really love it, but let’s just say the creaminess and smoothness of milk or even white chocolate is a whole other level. Luckily, the brilliant, smart and amazing people over at iChoc have been thinking the same and developed INCREDIBLE vegan chocolates in all the flavours you could ever wish for (milky, white vanilla, cookie, almond-orange and even nougat crisp)!
What’s the secret? Well, actually it’s pretty simple. Instead of using normal dairy, they just use rice milk and tweak the ingredients a bit… 🙂 pretty awesome, huh?
Their white vanilla flavour and the nougat crisp are my two absolute favorites and I’d highly recommend you try them. If you can’t find any stores next to you that carry this chocolate, you can always write them on Facebook or Instagram and ask about the distributor in your country. I know that they sell them in over 30 countries worldwide (most of the European Union, Canada, Israel, etc.) and in their online shop! 🙂
If you decide to give this Layered Speculoos White Chocolate Cream Parfait a try, let me know! Leave a comment and rate it – it’s so helpful to me and other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me (@thetastyk) and #thetastyk on Instagram! I love seeing what you come up with. Love and enjoy! ♥
- Speculoos cookie:
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ⅛ cup GF all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp speculoos/gingerbread spice (make your own blend if you can't find it)
- ⅛ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- ⅛ cup plant-based milk
White chocolate cream:- 1 can coconut cream (only the firm part)
- 1 Tbsp cashew butter
- ½ bar iChoc white vanilla chocolate, melted
Cherry vanilla layer:- 1 cup cooked unsweetened cherries
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp corn starch
Date speculaas caramel:- 6 Medjool dates, pitted
- 1 tsp speculoos/gingerbread spice
- ½ cup plant-based milk
- Place the dry ingredients into a sieve that sits on top of a bowl and sift until all the flour is inside the bowl. Whisk together.
- In a separate bowl, add all the remaining wet ingredients and mix together.
- Slowly add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together until you have a smooth batter.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F and slightly grease a muffin silicone tray.
- Add about a heaping tablespoon into each mould until all the batter is gone.
- Place them in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Once done, remove from the moulds and set aside.
- Once cold, crumble the cookies into small pieces and set aside.
- For the cream, scoop out the firm part of the coconut cream and place into a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk together. place into the fridge to chill.
- For the cherry layer, add the frozen cherries into a pan and heat until the cherries are melting. Add the vanilla extract and simmer for 1-2 minutes until cooked. Finally add the cornstarch (dissolved in cold water) and whisk together until you get a thickened cherry sauce. Take off the heat and place aside.
- Finally, add the date caramel ingredients to a high speed blender and mix until you get a smooth caramel mixture. Assemble the parfaits as you choose, depending on your preference and size of your serving glasses.
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