Organisers looking for a pronounced cocoa flavour
Want the chocolate to stand out alongside the speculaas spices? Choose a bar with a stated cocoa percentage and try a small amount with the biscuits first.
Which approach is right for you?
Volunteers who want to buy and serve quickly
A ready-made option saves preparation time, provided you can actually buy it. Albert Heijn lists its dark chocolate speculaas as discontinued, so check an alternative and its packaging before planning your shop.
Organisers selling unpackaged portions
If you’re selling individual biscuits or homemade chocolate clusters, keep the details of all the ingredients you’ve used to hand. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, information about allergens present must be available before purchase.
What should you look for when choosing?
Ready-made speculaas with dark chocolate
Suitable if: you have little time to prepare and can find an available product whose packaging meets your taste and information requirements.
The trade-off: ‘dark’ on its own doesn’t tell you the cocoa percentage; Albert Heijn marks the variant described as discontinued.
Speculaas paired with separately chosen chocolate
Suitable if: you want to choose a clearly stated cocoa percentage without baking the speculaas yourself.
The trade-off: you’ll need to taste the combination, prepare the portions and have allergen information available if you’re selling unpackaged food.
Homemade chocolate speculaas clusters
Suitable if: you want to control the amount of chocolate and the portion size as you bake.
The trade-off: baking and cooling take time; remember to keep a record of the ingredients and allergens in the finished bake, too.
| What to consider | What to check when buying | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Desired cocoa flavour | Check the cocoa percentage on the current packaging and try a small amount with speculaas. | I want the chocolate flavour to come through without losing the speculaas spices. For around 42% of consumers, this is the most important factor in their choice. |
| Allergens when selling loose | Keep up-to-date ingredient and allergen details for every product used, and make the information available before purchase. | If I’m selling individual portions, visitors need to be able to check which allergens they contain. For around 33% of consumers, this information is the top priority. |
| Portions and preparation | Check how many portions you can make, how much preparation time is needed and whether the products you’ve chosen are available. | I need to get everything ready for the fair without relying on an unavailable product. For around 25% of consumers, practicality matters most. |
Common mistakes
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Assuming ‘dark’ means a particular cocoa percentage
The name of speculaas with dark chocolate doesn’t tell you how much cocoa the chocolate contains. The speculaas described by Albert Heijn doesn’t state a cocoa percentage.
If a particular percentage matters to you, check the current packaging and taste the chocolate with the speculaas.
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Relying on an old product page when planning your shop
Albert Heijn marks its dark chocolate speculaas as discontinued. So a product page doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to buy it for the fair.
Check availability shortly before you shop, and keep a combination of plain speculaas and separately chosen dark chocolate as a back-up.
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Throwing away the packaging before selling individual portions
Once you open the biscuits or use the ingredients in a recipe, visitors can no longer check the original ingredient and allergen information for themselves. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority requires information about allergens present in unpackaged food to be available before purchase.
Keep the current packaging and make allergen information available at the point of sale for every item you offer.
Brands and shops to consider
Albert Heijn
Albert Heijn has a product page for AH Speculaas Met Pure Chocolade, 320 g.
- An example of ready-made speculaas with dark chocolate.
- The page says ‘discontinued’ and doesn’t give a cocoa percentage.
Lotus Biscoff
Lotus Bakeries describes Biscoff as a crunchy biscuit with a caramelised flavour that can also be used as an ingredient.
- A familiar biscuit base if you want to choose the chocolate separately.
- The Biscoff biscuits described aren’t demonstrably high-cocoa speculaas.
Jumbo
Jumbo describes speculaas spices and features chocolate speculaas clusters as a recipe idea.
- A useful starting point if you want to bake your own and choose the chocolate separately.
- A recipe doesn’t tell you the cocoa percentage of a ready-made speculaas product.
ALDI
ALDI lists Biscotto Bakkersspeculaas, 600 g, with 48 biscuits, as well as separate Moser Roth chocolate varieties containing 70% or 85% cocoa.
- The stated biscuit count helps you plan portions, while the cocoa percentage lets you choose between the chocolate options listed.
- These are separate products, not ready-made speculaas with dark chocolate. Check the ingredients and allergens on both packs.
Lidl
Lidl lists separate dark chocolate with 90% cocoa as a shop product.
- A clearly stated percentage if you want to use the chocolate alongside or in speculaas.
- It isn’t a ready-made dark chocolate speculaas product; check availability in store.
Dark chocolate to pair with speculaas
These Joybuy products are chocolate bars for an approach where you choose your own speculaas base. They aren’t ready-made speculaas products. Compare the cocoa percentages and check the current packaging for both the chocolate and speculaas before the fair.
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Lindt Excellence 78% Cocoa, 100 g
A chocolate option if you want to pair speculaas with a bar that contains 78% cocoa.
The product name states 100 g. Before using it, check the ingredients and allergens on the current packaging. Keep this information available if you’re selling individual portions.
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Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate, 100 g
A chocolate option if you’re looking for a bar containing 85% cocoa to pair with speculaas.
The product name states 100 g. Try a small amount of the combination and check the current allergen information before offering unpackaged portions.
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Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate, 100 g
A chocolate option if you want to use a bar with a stated cocoa percentage of 70% with your speculaas.
The product name states 100 g. If you’re preparing individual portions, keep the current ingredient and allergen details for both this bar and the speculaas you’ve chosen.
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Lindt Excellence 90% Cocoa Supreme Dark
A chocolate option if you want to pair speculaas with a bar that contains 90% cocoa.
Try it first to see whether the combination suits what you have in mind. Check the net weight when planning portions, and read the current ingredient and allergen information on the packaging.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to provide allergen information at a school fair?
Yes. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, if you offer unpackaged food to consumers, information about allergens present must be available before purchase. This can be provided in writing. You may give the information verbally under certain conditions, including that it’s readily available and there’s a visible notice telling visitors they can ask for it.
Does ‘dark chocolate’ mean speculaas has a high cocoa content?
No. That description alone doesn’t give the cocoa percentage of the chocolate in the speculaas. If you want to choose by cocoa percentage, check the current packaging; Albert Heijn doesn’t state a percentage for its dark chocolate speculaas.
How can I make sure the speculaas spices still come through alongside dark chocolate?
Start by making a small test batch with the chocolate you want to use. Jumbo lists cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom and coriander among the ingredients in speculaas spices. Tasting the combination will help you decide whether the spiced flavour still comes through in what you plan to offer at the fair.
Can I use an online ingredient list for individual portions at a fair?
Use the current packaging for each ingredient as your source of information. Albert Heijn notes that product information can change; for homemade or combined portions, record the details of every product you actually use so that the allergen information at the point of sale is accurate.