Speculoos Ice Box Pie

Though this recipe is called an "ice box" pie, that does not mean it isn't perfect for wintertime. What it does mean is that the recipe involves very little baking, since the filling sets up in the freezer rather than the oven. Incidentally, the cool, creamy texture of the finished product also pairs well with warm beverages like cocoa or coffee. And chocolate is good any time of year, right?

Now, let's pause a minute so I can evangelize for Speculoos Cookie Butter. It was no accident that I set it in a sunny window for its picture, so you could more easily envision a halo and angle chorus combo while you look at it. This addicting little product is only available at Trader Joe's. It is the consistency of peanut butter (smooth and crunchy varieties are both available), but made by grinding Speculoos cookies into a very find powder. And you know what Speculoos cookies are, even if you think you don't. Have you seen the Dutch windmill-shaped ones? With the sweet-meets-spicy gingery flavor? Those are them. So this butter has ingeniously found a way to make eating cookies even easier and more delicious. Awesome.

I'm following Emily Hilliard's recipe from Nothing in the House. This recipe also appears as the December entry in the cookbook she published with illustrator Elizabeth Graeber, Pie: A Hand-Drawn Almanac. The recipe book features twelve pies, one for each month, along with delightfully whimsical images to accompany all of the ingredient lists and baking directions.


The pie has three easy steps, each with no more than a handful of ingredients. Honestly, adding anything to hide the flavor of the Speculoos from this pie would be a mistake. Easy Step One is making the crust. To do so, I put a whole package of Oreos into a food processor, added some butter to the crumbs, pressed my delicious cookie-dirt into a pie pan, and baked it. This is the only oven use required in the entire recipe. I was a little confused when Emily's recipe directions said to mix butter and sugar into the cookie crumbs, yet sugar wasn't on the list of crust ingredients. I used only butter and Oreos, and mine turned out well. I did keep the filling in the oreos, since the recipe didn't tell me not to. To aviod any confusion, they also sell pre-baked chocolate cookie shells at most grocery stores, but I like this method better since I always have to eat a few Oreos to test their quality.

When the crust is done, it sat in my window sill to cool while I assembled ingredients for the filling. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Dream Team of pie filling items, that, when mixed in proper proportions, will yield nothing short of an otherworldly substance: Speculoos cream filling. 

I mean, cream cheese and whipping cream are already two of my favorite ingredients to bake with, and when they work together PLUS have magic cookie butter added to them, watch out. 

So the cream cheese and Speculoos go together with a hand mixer, then I used a stand mixer to whip the heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar into whipped cream. Then I just had to fold the whipped cream into the Speculoos mixture and the filling was done. 

I keep wanting to use Emeril's annoying "Bam" catchphrase at the end of my sentences to emphasize how easy this pie is, but my inner quality-control sensor won't let me. Also, if you ever catch me saying "Yumm-o" about anything, I have to jump off a bridge. Just fyi. 

So, here is the end of Step 2 where the filling is unceremoniously dolloped into the cooled pie crusts. 

The fresh pies need to set in the freezer for at least half an hour, which is plenty of time to prepare Step 3 - the ganache. For this step, I deviated from the original recipe’s instructions because they seemed unclear about what kind of chocolate to use – 60-70% dark chocolate is not the same as unsweetened. Then the recipe said to add sugar, which would make sense if I’d used the unsweetened chocolate, but since I was using  70% dark, it was already sweetened to where I wanted it. All of this made me a little skittish, so I went to my tried and true method for making ganache: I chopped the chocolate and put it in a heat-safe bowl (here I also added the salt per the recipe’s instructions…this was also something I’d omit in the future), then I heated the cream until it was just about to boil before pouring it over the chocolate and covering it bowl for 3-5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I uncovered the mixture, whisked it until it looked like ganache, and drizzled it over my pies. Everything turned out except for the excessively salty flavor of the chocolate, so, again, I’d omit that ingredient in the future and just make normal chocolate ganache here. The darker the chocolate the better, since the pie filling and crust are already a pretty sweet combination.

I forgot to take a picture of the ganache-making early stages, but use your imagination to picture chocolate covered in warm cream underneath this towel. And then the finished product in all its overly salty glory. 

When the pies came out of the freezer and I drizzled the ganache over their tops, I was satisfied with how they both looked and tasted (salty chocolate notwithstanding). These get a high score for their appearance and flavor and they're low on the difficulty metric. Now if only Trader Joe's would build a store in Grand Rapids so I could make them more than once a year. 

Speculoos Ice Box Pie 
(adapted from Nothing in the House)

For the Crust:

1 package Oreos (or chocolate sandwich cookie substitute)

3 Tblsp. butter, melted

For the Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. powdered sugar + 2 Tblsp.

3/4 c. Speculoos

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

For the Chocolate Ganache:

3.5 oz. 60-70% dark chocolate roughly chopped

1/2 c. heavy cream 

Directions for the Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Pulse cookies in a food processor until they form a fairly fine powder

Mix in melted butter until well incorporated

Pat filling into a 9 or 10-in. pie plate (I used six small ramekins).

Bake crust for about 7 minutes, let cool, then put in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Directions for the Filling:

 In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and 1/2 c. powdered sugar using a hand mixer, about one minute.

Add 3/4 cup Speculoos Cookie Butter and beat until very smooth and creamy, about three minutes

In a separate bowl, beat 1 cup heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar until stiff peaks have formed- approximately 3-4 minutes

Starting with 1/3 of the whipped cream mixture, fold the whipped cream into the Speculoos mixture. 

Once it's combined, add the remaining whipped cream to the Speculoos mixture, folding gently until thoroughly mixed

Pour the mixture into the cookie crust and freeze pie for about 20 minutes, meanwhile, make the chocolate ganache. 

Directions for the Chocolate Ganache:

Chop chocolate and put it in a heat-safe bowl

Heat cream over medium heat until it’s just about to boil

Pour the cream over the chocolate, cover with a towel, and let sit for 3-5 minutes

Whisk mixture until both ingredients combine to a glossy, chocolate texture

Drizzle the ganache over the chilled pie and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour

Remove pie from freezer about 20 minutes before serving and serve while still slightly chilled.