If you want to use Fairtrade chocolate in homemade speculaas, check the Fairtrade claim on the chocolate bar you choose. That claim does not automatically apply to the speculaas base or to ready-made biscuits. Then decide between homemade dough, a mix or ready-made biscuits, depending on the ingredients you want to use and how you plan to prepare them.
You want to be able to see on the packaging or product page whether the chocolate you choose is actually labelled as Fairtrade. A general sustainability statement about a retailer or brand is not the same thing.
You don’t want to measure out all the dry ingredients individually. According to Jumbo, its Mix voor Speculaas requires you to add butter or margarine and an egg.
Check the chocolate and the biscuit base separately. Ingredients and warnings about possible allergens may vary from product to product.
First decide what your Fairtrade requirement applies to: the chocolate, the speculaas base or a ready-made biscuit. Then choose how much of the dough you want to make yourself, and check the ingredients of every product you use.
| What to consider | What to check | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Fairtrade claim | Look for an explicit claim on the packaging or product page of the product that needs to meet your Fairtrade requirement. For AH Biologisch Reep extra puur, Albert Heijn also explains its Fairtrade trading through mass balance. | If I’m adding chocolate because it’s Fairtrade, I want to find that claim on the specific bar I’ve chosen. Around 44% of consumers prioritise this check. |
| Preparation and recipe | Choose between making the dough from scratch, using a mix that needs extra ingredients, or using ready-made biscuits as an ingredient. According to Jumbo, its Mix voor Speculaas requires butter or margarine and an egg. | If I want to bake quickly, a mix could be a good fit; if I want to choose the dry ingredients myself, I’d rather make the dough from scratch. This consideration is decisive for around 33% of consumers. |
| Ingredients and allergens | Check the ingredients, allergen information and any ‘may contain’ warnings for both the biscuit base and the chocolate. | If I need to avoid certain ingredients, I want to be able to assess both products before using them. This check matters most to around 23% of consumers. |
A statement about a retailer’s cocoa sourcing doesn’t automatically tell you which Fairtrade claim appears on your bar, mix or biscuits. A Fairtrade claim for chocolate doesn’t automatically apply to the rest of the recipe either.
Check the current claim on every product for which Fairtrade is a purchase requirement.
A chocolate bar and a speculaas mix serve different purposes. A mix may also require ingredients that aren’t included in the pack.
Decide in advance whether you’ll make the dough from scratch, use a mix or add ready-made biscuits, then check what else you’ll need for that option.
Warnings about possible allergens may be relevant in addition to the ingredients list. Albert Heijn’s information for the chocolate bar mentioned above notes that it may contain milk, cereals containing gluten and various nuts; Jumbo also provides allergen information for its speculaas mix.
Check the current packaging of both the chocolate and the biscuit base, including any ‘may contain’ information.
A product range description doesn’t tell you which flavour is currently available in a particular shop. Check that the variant you want is available and look at the current range before you go shopping.
When planning your baking, allow for the possibility that you may need to choose another suitable variant.
If the variant you want isn’t on the shelf, you may need to spend time making an extra trip to another shop.
For its 100 g AH Biologisch Reep extra puur with 72% cocoa, Albert Heijn states that the required volume has been traded and verified as Fairtrade, and explains how mass balance works.
Lidl describes Way To Go as a range of Fairtrade-certified chocolate bars, including milk, dark and other flavours.
On its product page, ALDI describes Choceur Pure Chocolade 200 g as Fairtrade chocolate.
Jumbo Mix voor Speculaas 400 g is a pre-mixed base for anyone who doesn’t want to measure out all the dry ingredients themselves.
Lotus describes Biscoff as a caramelised biscuit that can also be used as a cooking ingredient, for example if you want to use ready-made biscuits instead of baking dough.
Look for an explicit Fairtrade claim on the packaging or product page of the chocolate bar you’ve chosen. For example, for AH Biologisch Reep extra puur, Albert Heijn states that the required volume has been traded and verified as Fairtrade, and explains mass balance. Don’t assume that a general statement about a brand or retailer applies to an individual bar.
No. Chocolate isn’t part of Albert Heijn’s Allerhande basic speculaas recipe. If you want to make a chocolate version, choose and check the chocolate as a separate ingredient; a Fairtrade claim on the bar says nothing about the other ingredients.
Read the information on both packs separately, including ingredients, listed allergens and any ‘may contain’ warnings. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, allergen information must appear on the label of prepacked food. The information may differ between a chocolate bar and a speculaas mix.
According to Albert Heijn’s Allerhande speculaas recipe, the biscuits will keep for one week in an airtight tin. Also follow the storage instructions on the packaging for chocolate and any other products.
