There are products that become, in the blink of an eye, classics. The Lotus cookie could be one of them. Many of us met her in the increasingly distant 90s on trips to Belgium, where she appeared, individually wrapped, as a ‘cuqui’ companion for coffee or tea. This cookie, which now called Lotus Biscoff If we look at the name that appears printed on the package that wraps it (and that unites the English words ‘biscuit’ -biscuit- and ‘coffee’ -coffee-), it was Created in 1932 by Belgian pastry chef Jan Boone Sr. In reality, the pastry chef was making a version of the classic ‘speculoos’ of that country, cookies with butter and spices as hallmarks. The ingredients of the Lotus They are, however, slightly different: fats are vegetablesincorporates candy -brown sugar syrup- and the only surviving spice is cinnamon.
With the new century it began to be seen in some posh establishments in Spain, replacing any complimentary cookie (that is, free), with which many establishments serve coffee. And from there, in the blink of an eye, it became part of desserts in which the cookie plays an important role, banishing others like the María, the Digestive or even the Oreoperhaps the only one that can be compared to it in terms of popular impact.
The data is overwhelming: Lotus Bakeries has tripled its sales since 2013, with “a resurgence based on the conquest of generation Z through social networks,” the company explains on its Linkedin profile. The platform to be ‘blamed’ is, above all, TikTokAdd Lotus Bakeries. She is the boss of short videos.
The queen of desserts
Many sensed the potential long ago. Carlos Rojoco-owner of the Lamonarracha Asian fusion restaurants (with three locations in Madrid and one in Pozuelo de Alarcón), Use the cookie of yore in your lemon cake. “We use the Lotus as a base, crushed and mixed with butter. We started preparing the cake three years ago and we have not removed it from the menu because it works very well. It is a large dessert, intended to be shared between two or three people. “Its success is undeniable.”
But if there is a recipe in which Lotus cookie has entered in an unstoppable way is another cake: the cheese one. You just have to look at the options of some of the references of this sweet in Madrid, such as Álex Cordobés or Luna & Wanda.
Cheesecake
Sergio Arjonawhich started with the Luna & Wanda project in confinement, created the Lotus cookie cheesecake in February 2024. In this case, The incorporation does not occur in the base but in the cake dough itself thanks to another invention of the Belgian brand, the Lotus cream.. “When creating a dessert like this, having a cream makes things a lot easier. We achieved the recipe in a day and a half, working with the percentages of cream cheese and Lotus cookie to achieve what we have achieved: that it tastes like both things at the same time without one flavor canceling out the other. The cream as a facilitator was a decisive factor for the cake to come out ahead. “I would like to create one flavored with Inés Rosales cakes and it would make my life a lot easier if the brand had a cream to use as raw material.”
Arjona does not doubt that Social networks have played a main role in the rise to fame of this cookie. “It has also influenced that It is a recognizable product that people demand. That is why we work with Lotus and not with a white label: the customer wants the cookie not to be like the Lotus: he wants the original”.
Finally, the founder of Luna & Wanda points out another fundamental factor to explain the rise and triumph of Lotus: “It has an unmistakable flavor, of caramel and cinnamon.which you can’t find in any other cookie and that makes people look for it.”
with ice cream
Beyond cheesecake, ‘lotusmania’ continues. Cucumber Cake (València) makes a version of cookie cake with lotus. In Balbisiana (Madrid), they mix three layers of Vanilla sponge cake with mousse and cream made with Belgian biscuit. In The Bechamelthe second concept of Michelin star Juan Monteagudo in Albacetealso appears in a letter, as a support for a cookie cake with meringue milk ice cream. It even sneaks into pastries as foreign to the old world and its traditions as the Japanese: in Niji (with stores in Madrid and Barcelona), has up to a ‘mochi’ made with Lotus cookie. It goes without saying that in the ice cream parlors that boast dozens of flavors Lotus He is already one of the family.
The rise of the unexpected ‘lotusburger’
But the great leap forward for Lotus cookie has been to cross the limits of the dessert menu and jump to the savory dishes. A territory in which he has made his fortune is that of the burgers. Attest to it Emilio Meridaowner of the gourmet butcher shop of the same name in Malaga and which produces burgers with lotus to serve both individuals and restaurants.
“We started preparing it two years ago because we saw that it was fashionable and because we had already made something similar with nougat and almond pieces, for example. What we do is fill the beef burger with Lotus cream and crushed pieces of the cookie itself. When you cut it, the inside spills out…”, says Mérida. The butcher serves it to prominent restaurateurs in the city. Among those surprised, the chef of the prestigious Hermanos Alba restaurant: “I presented it to him in a blind tasting and when he tried it he told me ‘what’s crazy about this?’. Madness for the better, of course.”
Playing to the limit
It is a rare city in which there is not at least one place where you can try ‘lotusado’ hamburgers. In The Sacred (Barcelona) one appears with lotus sauce, which is combined with cheddar cheese and crispy bacon. They go further in Banned (Manresa), where they play to the limit with a ‘smash burger’, also with cheddar and bacon, but which also adds goat cheese cream, Lotus sauce and cookie crumble. The Holy Glory of Porneat (Madrid) is another outrageous product made from aged beef, bacon, cheese and lotus cream. So that there is no room for error It has one of the iconic Belgian cookies crowning the whole outfit.
Given what has been seen, it is clear that the jump of the Lotus cookie to other dishes it is not so far away. Will pizza be next? PinsaPizzawith two locations in Madrid, is one of those that already offers sweet versions with the Lotusas a ‘calzone’ filled with Lotus cookie cream, in which pieces of Kinder Bueno are mixed (another cult brand). From here to being part of a renewed barbecue pizza or a four cheese (and Lotus as the fifth element) there is only one step.