23 reasons my brother's my favorite

Happy 23rd Birthday Kevin!

#1 He's a goofball with a rubber face.

#2 He can reach things on the top shelf.

#3 He's a mega-talented illustrator. 

#4 He has an inner child that just won't quit.

#5 He does a killer Saruman impression.

#6 He's the king of obscure movie quotes. 

#7 He's the voice behind Pippin. (Doesn't your dog have a voice?)

#8 He's easy to shop for (dinosaurs and superheroes).

#9 He helps me take blog-worthy photos of quiche.

#10 He can always crack me up. (He cracks everybody up.)

#11 He's a pro at building the family Christmas village. 

#12 He'll drive you to Chicago if Milwaukee cancels your flight.

#13 He's an ace face-painter.

#14 He gives me hand-me-down, nerdy t-shirts.

#15 He's game for a good costume.

#16 He's good at hugs.

#17 He makes sure we take our yearly siblings Christmas photo.

#18 He's the best at mix CDs.

#19 His Instagram is better than yours.

#20 He's accepting, understanding, and kind.

#21 He always has my back.

#22 He's a little brother I can look up to.

#23 He'll appreciate (and deal with) how sappy this post just got.

Koppa's Fulbeli Deli

Find tasty sandwiches & free Atari here!

Last weekend, Adam and I took my brother antiquing and to one of our favorite lunch spots: Koppa's Fulbeli Deli. You'll pass the deli as you drive down Farwell on Milwaukee's east side. Blink and you'll miss it, or even stare and you'll miss it — it just looks like a convenience store to the untrained eye. 

Lucky for me, Adam learned of this hidden gem with its vast menu of sandwiches and free Atari while you wait. We always get The Saturn: Turkey, tomato, sprouts, cucumber, red onion, and cucumber sauce stuffed into a warm pita lined with sharp cheddar. The pita is warm, so the cheese is just a touch melty — AKA perfect. Of course it's not glamorous, but they recently added some tables and chairs near the front of the store so deli diners can sit and enjoy their eats. 

I don't frequent Koppa's as much as I should. There are so many tasty sammies to be tried! If any one of you readers out there has been to Koppa's and has a favorite sandwich, leave a comment! I'd love to try something new next time.

Happy Friday!

Things to get excited about

Remember how Adam's birthday just happened? And then I was making him a special dinner? Well, I had a birthday myself this week. And my friend had a baby. And my other friend told me she's pregnant. And my dad's birthday is this Saturday. And my brother's birthday is next Thursday. And Adam and I are still trying to settle in to our new apartment (yellow tulips on the windowsill, that kind of thing) in the midst of all these great things — hence the spotty blogging.

So yes, I feel like there's a lot to get excited about, a lot to think about, and a lot to do. And not just for me; here are four newsworthy items from around the web for your excitement.

#1 As if the cast of the new live-action Beauty and the Beast could get any better, they created a new role — a grand piano to be played by Stanley Tucci. So now we have Emma Watson, Emma Thompson, Sir Ian McKellen, Josh Gad, Audra McDonald... And now The Tooch!? Does this movie have "midnight showing" written all over it or what? 

#2 Obsession alert! Did you know Alice in Wonderland turns 150 this year? Celebrate by visiting this amazing website and pre-ordering all manner of Alice books complete with original illustrations. 

#3 Some explorer types discovered a googly-eyed frog in Costa Rica that looks just like Kermit. Neat!

#4 The Little Prince looks like the most magical thing ever. Period.

Chicken curry

A delicious birthday dinner done the Indian way

Once upon a time, I asked Adam which Indian dish he would most like me to learn to make. "Chicken curry," he said. So I emailed his mom — who is crazy-talented when it comes to cooking up deliciousness — and asked for her recipe. Wonderful lady that she is, she sent over a recipe for chicken curry... that was a touch out of my league. 

I admit it! I'm a weenie when it comes to whole chickens. I've never cooked one, let alone cut one to pieces while it's raw and boney. We also don't have a large pan that's not non-stick, so when her recipe called for "scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan," I had no brown bits to scrape. Non-stick skillets don't give you brown bits — and brown bits are key for flavor in a lot of sauces. 

So I adapted Adam's mom's recipe as best I could for my own comfort level and working with what we had on hand, skillet wise and spice wise (I used powdered spices in place of some whole spices — like ground cinnamon in place of a cinnamon stick). While Adam totally loved his birthday dinner, we both agreed that next time we should go big or go home: whole chickens and a skillet with some stick. But for now, I'll share my slightly-more-weenie way of making Adam's mom's chicken curry (and give you her method along the way for all you non-weenies out there).

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CHICKEN CURRY

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 

MARINADE

2 large chicken breasts (or 1 whole cut up chicken with bones)

1/2 cup yogurt

1-inch square piece of fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

1 and 1/2 tsp minced garlic (or 3 cloves of garlic, grated)

1 tsp tumeric

1/4 tsp red chili powder

SAUCE

1 large onion, chopped

1 large or two smaller tomatoes, chopped

3 TBS olive oil

1 bay leaf

1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cloves (or 4 cloves)

1/2 to 1 tsp ground cardamom (or 3 to 4 whole cardamom pods)**

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (or 1 cinnamon stick)

1 tsp sugar

1 cup chicken stock (or warm water) 

salt to taste

** Cardamom is expensive. Like $14/jar. You can substitute a one-to-one mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg for cardamom; for this recipe, I use 1/4 tsp of each to replace the cardamom. Adam later told me he believes this spice is pretty essential, so I will probably shop around for a more affordable retailer and not use the cinnamon and nutmeg substitute in the future, if I can help it. But it's great in a pinch — or if you just want to save a few bucks!

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 

1. For the marinade: Mix yogurt, ginger, garlic, turmeric, and red chili powder until combined. Add chicken, and marinate 2 hours or longer if possible. Since I used chicken breasts, I cut them into small pieces before marinating. 

2. For the sauce: Heat oil in a large (ideally not non-stick) skillet on medium-low heat for a few minutes. Add cloves, cardamom (or substitute spices), cinnamon, and bay leaf. Mix the spices with the oil and fry until fragrant, taking care to stir the mixture so it doesn't burn (it can burn easily!). 

3. Add chopped onions, salt, and sugar. (I did a poor job keeping track of how much salt I added; I just kept sprinkling it in at various stages of cooking). Cook onion until golden, soft, and fragrant, taking care not to burn. 

4. Add marinated chicken and chopped tomato. Lower the flame and place the lid on the skillet. Cook for about five minutes, then stir/turn the chicken (this is where you scrape up the brown bits). Continue cooking and turning the chicken until it's cooked all the way through (15 to 20 minutes, or less if you cut the chicken into rather small pieces). Add 1 cup chicken stock or warm water (I used chicken stock because I figured it would add more flavor), bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. 

5. Serve with Basmati rice, cooked according to the package instructions. Or cook the rice my new favorite way: Instead of cooking the rice in only water, I cook in half water, half coconut milk (I use the Silk brand, original). At the end of cooking the rice, I stir in a splash more of coconut milk to make it creamy (rather than dry and sticky), then remove from heat.

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You'll notice there's no actual curry powder in this recipe. Fun fact: Curry powder as we Westerners know it was invented by the British! It's not actually used in Indian cuisine — rather, "curry" just means a blend of spices. 

This dish was tasty on night one, but even better the next day once all of the spices had even more of a chance to mingle. Mixing the chicken and sauce right in with the rice cooked in coconut milk was super yummy, and although I still prefer my Indian food to have a more creamy sauce (like coconut chicken and tikka masala), this chicken curry was a delicious change of pace. 

Happy Birthday, Cowboy

It's Adam's birthday party, partner

 

Last week was Adam's birthday, so on Sunday my family insisted on a birthday dinner — with a theme. Since probably last fall and all during prime Christmas movie season, Adam has whined that we need to watch Maverick. Have you seen this Comedy-Western starring Mel Gibson in his pre-crazy glory days? It's fun — one of Adam's favorites. Because we love Adam and love giving him a hard time, we decided months ago to make him suffer until his birthday — that way we could make his day by finally watching Maverick. Smart, right?

Running with the cowboy theme, my awesome parents picked up a hat and bandana for each of us, racks of ribs, corn muffins, and other cooked-up deliciousness for dinner. On the table, cowboy and cowgirl party napkins and a giant bull skull my brother found at an antique store (he plans to mount it on the wall). I cued up Marty Robbins Radio on Pandora to complete the Western ambiance. 

The whole evening made me miss theme parties. We used to have them all the time! In 8th grade, my Prom-themed birthday party saw party-goers decked out in gaudy thrift store finds. In high school, I had a Disney Villains shindig where I dressed as Captain Hook and my friends showed up as Cruella, Ursula, and Man (the villain in Bambi, duh). In college we had 90s parties, 60s parties, come-dressed-as-something-that-starts-with-"V" parties (my roommates and I lived in Apartment V). I'm glad we brought those days back, even in our very small way, for a night of Western-themed silliness. Please let's never get too old for theme parties.

Baked cinnamon Toast

A breakfast treat made the Pioneer Woman's way

Did you know artisan toast is a Thing? I'm going to San Francisco with my family next fall, and there's a place where you can get fancy shmancy cinnamon toast for like $4. I'm all for trying something new, and maybe this is some mind-blowing toast (I'll report back if I try it). Until then, I'll make my cinnamon toast at home on the cheap, and I'll do it the Pioneer Woman's way. 

She might be a super rich rancher's wife with two houses with two jaw-dropping kitchens (and two basset hounds — jealous!), but I like that Ree Drummond keeps it real in the kitchen. She takes shortcuts. She tells you that store-bought chicken stock is fine. She's on the same page as me when it comes to butter and doesn't apologize for it. And she taught me how to make cinnamon toast the right way.

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CINNAMON TOAST
4 slices, feeds 2

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 
4 slices of bread (I used honey whole wheat)
1/2 stick or 1/4 cup butter, softened completely
1/4 cup sugar (I used less actually — you can always add more!)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla 
pinch of nutmeg

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Smush together butter, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg until a smooth paste forms and everything is combined completely. Spread the mixture on 4 slices of bread, covering each slice all the way to the edges. Place bread on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbling (watch it so it doesn't burn!). Remove from oven and inhale. 

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I actually made this for the first time last weekend. It was Sunday morning, I didn't want boring old weekday cereal, but I also didn't want to do a ton of work in the kitchen. This toast was the perfect solution. As long as you already have softened butter (just leave a stick out overnight), it comes together in no-time. And the 10 minutes baking is just enough time to get coffee made and those few dishes done. Methinks I've found a new weekend morning go-to!

Neil Diamond does Milwaukee 2015

Some Diamonds in the Rough watch Neil from a luxury box

"There are two types of people in this world. Those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't." _Bob Wiley, What About Bob?

My friends and I are the former. So we were totally psyched when Erin's fiancé, Tom, scored our group box seats at the Bradley Center for Neil's concert last week. Did you know Neil is 74 years old? Did you know he wrote "I'm a believer" and "Red red wine?" Did you know he once did a beautifully heartbreaking duet with Barbra Streisand? Did you know those aren't sequins on his stage-wear, rather they're beads hand-sewn by nine women in Guatemala? Did you also know his voice is like butter (rich, smooth, and good for the soul)? Did you realize how much you were missing out on?!

There's so much more to Neil Diamond than the overplayed "Sweet Caroline." I wish more people knew that. Just a few short years ago, I was a Neil newbie, too. But my friends really drove home the fandom — and thank God! Have you heard "Play Me"? Poetic. What about "America"? Hello petition for a new national anthem, where do I sign? Then there's "Cracklin' Rosie" — so toe-tappin', it's Rachelle's "wake me from a coma song." And don't even get me started on what it's like to hear "Cherry Cherry" live.

Anyway, Neil still has it. He might not hold the notes as long as he once did (like I said, he's 74), but the tone of his voice is every bit as buttery. He also knows his audience, what they want to hear and how they want to hear it — no opening act, no intermission, home by 10:30. Yep, there were a lot of geriatrics in the crowd. In fact, they warned us before showtime that the lights would dim abruptly in about 10 minutes (no heart attacks please!).

For our group, the glory of Neil was made all the greater since Tom treated us to an evening of luxury box life. We were handed a flute of champagne upon entry to the Hall of Boxes. And in our own box: a counter set with beer, soda, and wine (all chilling on ice), a spread of cheese and sausage (bless you Milwaukee) and a veggie platter (which went largely untouched — bless you Milwaukee), a buffet of top-notch chicken tenders and BBQ pork, three kinds of pizza, and stadium seating with a perfect view. Is this heaven? No, it's a luxury box at a Neil Diamond concert. 

Carrot coffee cake

Spiced cake with brown sugar crumble & cream cheese icing

I'm not big into carrot cake. I usually think it has too much stuff going on — carrots, nuts, raisins. I just can't with raisins! But then one day I was desperate for breakfast and was staring at a selection of muffins, and the bakery tricked me by calling this one muffin something like "Morning Glory" when what they really meant was CARROT. But I ate it (again, desperate) and I didn't die. In fact, I didn't even mind it. So when I needed something festive for Easter brunch, I thought bunnies = carrots = carrot coffee cake. 

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CARROT COFFEE CAKE

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 
CAKE
1 and 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded carrots (you can buy them pre-shredded!)

CRUMBLE TOPPING
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBS flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBS butter, melted
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, but not really)

ICING
1 TBS butter, softened
2 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla 

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round or square baking pan. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Stir in shredded carrots (if using pre-shredded carrots, I would first chop them up a bit — they're kind of stringy otherwise). Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. To make the crumble topping: Stir together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and melted butter. If desired, add nuts (they add such  great flavor — do it!). Evenly distribute the topping over the batter in the pan. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

5. To make the icing: Use a hand mixer to beat butter and cream cheese together. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, then beat in vanilla. To pipe on the icing, pour into a plastic baggie and trim one of the bottom corners. Pipe away!

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This cake received absolutely rave reviews from everyone (my humble self included — now I'm a carrot cake believer!) — except my brother. I guess some people will just never be carrot cake converts. Which sounds like a shame, but really isn't — it just means more deliciousness for the rest of us!

5 tips for apartment shopping in Milwaukee

From Craigslist searches to open houses

I'm aware that I'm one of those twenty-somethings who moved back in with Mom and Dad after college because student loans are the worst and English degrees don't equal Scrooge McDuck levels of gold coinage. That, and/or I'm a late bloomer and/or I strangely love my family. No shame here. But the time finally came to move on up to the east side (really!); Adam and I started apartment hunting a few months back and moved in to our new digs on April 1st.

While I'm only one person who has experienced only one recent round of apartment hunting in the downtown Milwaukee area, I did learn a few things along the way. So for those of you who are late bloomers like me — or even if you just want a reminder of things to consider as you shop — here are some tips. 

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#1 Use Craigslist filters & new features.
Craigslist warrants some sub-tips:

* Photos first: You know apartment shopping is a visual process, so always select "has image" and view listings in "gallery" mode.

* Price range: Say your max is $1000 — make your maximum $1100. Why? Because some places will include cable, internet, heat, parking, etc., so a $1000 place with zero amenities will cost more anyway. Better to give yourself a bit of breathing room with your target price. Also include a minimum price; after lots of searching, I found that anything less than $750 is probably in a crummy neighborhood and/or is too run down or small for my taste.

* Square footage: Include a minimum square footage to rule out any shoe boxes. Adam and I figured we didn't want to live anywhere that was less than 800 square feet. 

* Scroll through images on the home page: Craigslist recently installed a feature where you can scroll through a listing's photos right from the search results page (you don't have to open the actual listing). It's really nice, but I found it doesn't work smoothly in all internet browsers — if you don't get scrolling arrows on the gallery results page, try a different browser. 

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#2 Scope out local property management companies.
Adam and I were looking for some old world charm in Milwaukee's downtown or east side. Some companies that cater to this ideal include Shoreline, Eastmore, and Edgewaterre. Some of their websites are more user-friendly than others, but it's worth looking into as you won't necessarily find all of these listings on Craigslist. Also, these places often have weekend open houses, so it's really easy to make a day of seeing firsthand exactly what's available.

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#3 Ask the right questions.
It's safe to say I'm still in the process of finding out whether or not Adam and I asked the right questions of our new apartment owners, but a few key ones to remember: If heat is included, ask if each apartment gets to manage their own heat or if it's centrally controlled. Ask about the other tenants — are they college students, young professionals, families, or a mix? I thought such info was supposed to be off limits, we got an answer every time we asked. Of course there's oodles more to ask — I actually Googled it to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything major.

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#4 Look up, look down, look behind curtains.
Surprise! Adam and I got into our new apartment and were all "Huh. Was that peeling paint and water damage always on the bedroom ceiling?" and "Huh. Were the base boards always such a crumbly mess?" Neither of us is sure. When we first toured the place, we were so caught up in how much we loved the eye-level view of the apartment that we never looked up or down. We also never looked in the shower, so black and white tile was also a total surprise.

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#5 Take pictures and measure.
Since the current occupants showed us the apartment, I politely took one or two pictures of each room; I wish I'd taken many more. More angles, more walls (to visualize where to hang artwork), more floors (to envision where and what size of rugs). Of course it's a work in progress once you get a in a place, but some things would have been nice to know in the weeks leading up to move-in day. For instance, Adam and I spent an afternoon searching for a living room accent chair — now that we're in the place, we see we really never had room for one. That would've been nice to know! If you don't measure the rooms yourself, ask the property manager if they have a blueprint of the apartment they can send you — most should be able to.

Quiche Lorraine

Like bacon & eggs in a pie shell

Ahhh Quiche Lorraine... I remember my mom used to bring it home from the deli of our local grocery store when I was little. I never got into it. Then one time I was visiting my friends Maria and Kevin in Grand Rapids and Maria made quiche for breakfast. It was insanely cheesy and wonderful and full of bacon bits — surprise! It was Quiche Lorraine. I've been making the recipe she gave me ever since and it's now a family favorite. In fact, I made three quiches for Easter this year — on purpose, so we'd have leftovers. 

I doubled the recipe for three quiches(and added an extra egg + a splash of cream & milk to the third pie — it needed more liquid). For a single recipe (as written below) either buy/make a deep dish pie shell, or whip up some extra liquid and divide the filling between two regular pie shells. Not unlike other quiches I've made, I find it's really hard to screw this one up. Gotta love that!

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QUICHE LORRAINE

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 
1 or 2 pie shells (I just used Pillsbury) 
8 slices of bacon
1 medium onion, pretty finely chopped
4 eggs
1 cup cream (or half-and-half)
1 cup milk (I used 2%) 
1/2 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg (I decided 2 pinches = 1 dash)
1 and 1/2 cups shredded swiss cheese
1 TBS flour
tomatos and parsley for garnish (optional)

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 
1. Line pie shells with foil and bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove shells from oven and reduce temperature to 325 degrees.

2. In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp (not blackened). Reserve 2 TBS of bacon drippings, then drain remaining drippings. Finely crumble cooked bacon and set aside. Cook chopped onion in reserved drippings until tender and fragrant (not browned). 

3. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until smooth (I used an electric mixer and beat the eggs until just frothy). Add cream, milk, salt, and nutmeg and stir or beat together. Stir in crumbled bacon and onion. Toss shredded cheese with 1 TBS flour until cheese is coated, then add cheese to the egg mixture and mix well. 

4. Pour egg mixture into the pie shell(s). Bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. If necessary, cover the edge of the crust with foil to prevent browning. Let stand 10 minutes after removed from oven, and garnish with tomatoes and parsley if desired. 

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In order to make Easter brunch easy and not too messy, I made the quiches the night before. I baked them for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the eggs were pretty set (still runny in the middle, but not at risk of making a huge mess). I then removed them from the oven, let them cool a bit, covered them with foil, and kept them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I preheated the oven to 325 degrees and cooked the pies for another 30 to 40 minutes. Voila!

March 2015

A few of my favorite things

Mixing up Roach's recipe for guacamole (yum!).

Antiquing in the Third Ward & Walker's Point.

Attempting no-bake bachelor cookies.

Seeing Beauty and the Beast on stage at the PAC.

Baking Irish Soda bread for a St. Patrick's Day treat.

Learning to make pasta at Quarry Coffee & Cafe.

Biscoff banana bread with cookie crumble topping

There's cookie butter in this batter!

When I studied in France in college, Rachel and I made a marvelous discovery: Speculoos. Speculoos are cookies that fall somewhere between graham crackers and molasses crisps. These cookies are kind of run of the mill overseas, served with coffee like it's no big deal. Well they were (and are) a big deal to us — even bigger when heaped with Nutella. Talk about a flavor and texture explosion! Rachel and I still eat this winning combo every time she visits — except, in the States, Speculoos = Biscoff. 

So when Rachel discovered a recipe for Biscoff banana bread from Two Peas & Their Pod, there was no question. Must make immediately. This was a few years ago and I've been making it ever since. Now I'm a big fan of plain and simple banana bread, but let's be honest — it can only get better with the addition of cookie butter to the batter and cookie crumble topping. This bread is such a crowd pleaser, I can't even tell you! But you might want to make it when you're not feeding a crowd — that way there's more for you.

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BISCOFF BANANA BREAD WITH COOKIE CRUMBLE TOPPING

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 
BATTER
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread, or other cookie butter
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

COOKIE CRUMBLE TOPPING
3/4 cup chopped Biscoff cookies
3 TBS flour
1/4 + 1/8 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 and 1/2 TBS butter, melted
*Note: The measurements seem odd for the crumble topping because I like to multiply the original crumble amounts by 1.5. Doubling the crumble results in too much, but an extra half-amount is divine!

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, stir together mashed bananas, Biscoff Spread, oil, egg, vanilla, and sugars until combined. (*Note: Maybe you have a potato masher, but if you don't, place the bananas on a plate and use the back of a fork to mash them — it's easier than a bowl). Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring until just combined.

4. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan, making sure it's filled about 2/3 full (if filled to the brim it will overflow in the oven). In a small bowl, stir together ingredients for the cookie crumble topping (it will look like lumpy wet sand). Spoon the topping evenly over the top of the batter in the pan. 

5. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top starts to brown before the bread is done baking, place aluminum foil loosely over the top of the bread and return to the oven. Allow bread to cool at least 10 minutes before loosening it from the pan and transferring it to a cooling rack.

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You can find Biscoff products in a lot of major stores nowadays. When Rachel and I first got back from France, we could only find Biscoff cookies at Walgreens — how random! Now you can find them in most major grocery stores — they live by the specialty cookies, not the big brands (but they're all in the same aisle). As for the cookie butter, you can get Biscoff Spread most places, or even Speculoos cookie butter at Trader Joe's. The spread comes in creamy and crunchy; either work wonderfully in this recipe!