How Biscoff boarded airplanes everywhere

Farewell, peanuts. Bon voyage, pretzels. There's a new frequent flyer in town.

Biscoff cookies, those molasses-y, baking-spiced cookies handed out on flights — making the journey slightly more bearable — grew from a humble Belgian treat to a globe-trotting phenomenon, per Serious Eats.

Only temporary

Biscoff, the little cookie that could, traces its sweet history back to the early 20th century, when Belgian bakers made speculoos — a cheaper, less spiced version of Speculaas, a Dutch Christmas-season treat — with notes of caramelized sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.

• 1932: Lotus Bakeries started baking speculoos at scale.
• 1950s: Lotus individually wrapped the cookies and cleverly convinced café owners to serve them alongside coffee, introducing them to a wider European audience.
• The Great Peanut Crisis of 1980s: a shortage of the ubiquitous airline snack led Delta to partner with family-run Lotus in 1986 to temporarily replace peanuts with speculoos cookies, per Serious Eats.
• Rebranded as Biscoff — a portmanteau of biscuit and coffee — the cookies were an instant hit and became a permanent offering.
• Delta now serves 70m packages annually.

Biscoff cookies spread their wings and now appear on American Airlines, JetBlue, Qatar Airways, Brussels Airlines (naturally), and others.

People are passionate about the mile-high treat: bonding over them, freaking out when swapped for other cookies. Research even shows their flavor profile counteracts the taste-altering effects of air travel.

Biscoffs have since landed on supermarket shelves and now come in cookie butter, sandwich cookies, and ice cream. Lotus has also partnered with others for limited-time collabs, and the cookies went viral when paired with Greek yogurt to create what some call "Japanese cheesecake".

From earning an obsessive following in the air to filling grocery shelves and social media feeds, Biscoffs are earning serious dough for Lotus, helping the company build a global brand:

• $850m+ revenue in the first half of 2026, a 14% YoY increase.
• Lotus committed approximately $557m toward global expansion, including facilities in North Carolina and Thailand.
• 6B Biscoff baked each year.
• Fastest-growing U.S. cookie brand, according to Lotus.
• Lotus shares climbed 600% in ten years.

But good luck recreating the magic of the "airline cookie" at home: Only six people know the secret recipe.

Just do what I do: Stash as many as you can into your carry-on for a rainy day.