speculoos

noun

spec·​u·​loos ˈspe-kyə-ˌlōs 

variants or less commonly speculaas

-ˌläs 

plural speculoos also speculaas

: a sweet crisp cookie made with brown sugar and flavored with spices (such as cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg)

… speculoos, Belgium's spicy shortbread biscuit.

—Kerry J. Byrne

Speculoos are buttery, brown sugar and spice-flavored cookies that are similar to gingersnaps and are popular in the Netherlands.

—Jacqueline Iannazzo-Corser

To celebrate all things spice, I am adding speculaas to my cookie tray this year. Speculaas are … thin and crisp with a satisfying crunch.

—Julie Falsetti

—sometimes used before another noun

speculoos cookies

The speculaas dough is pressed onto a mold that has a decorative design.

—Katie O'Kennedy

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Dutch, regional variant (Brussels, Leuven) of speculaas, probably back-formation (by construing the final -ie as the diminutive suffix -je, regionally homonymous with -ie) from speculatie "spice cookie," presumably a concretization of the sense "pleasure, delight," earlier, "reflection, contemplation," borrowed from Middle French speculacion & Late Latin speculātiō — more at speculation

Note: The etymology of speculaas has been disputed by scholars of Dutch. Jan de Vries, in Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek (Leiden, 1971), characterizes the above etymology as "hoogst onwaarschijnlijk" ("highly improbable"), while F. de Tollenaere, who subscribes to it, regards one of the etymologies cited by De Vries, from Flemish spek(ke) "caramel," as "selbstverständlich unwahrscheinlich, wenn nicht absurd" ("self-evidently improbable, if not absurd")—see "Zur Etymologie von hd. Spekulatius, norw. spekulasi, spik(k)elasi, in Zusammenhang von nl. speculatie, speculaas," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, Band 84, Nr. 4 (1983), pp. 522-30. See also, by the same author, "Hoe is 'speculaas' onstaan?", Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, Jaargang 101 (1985), pp. 242-49.

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above