I come from a family that makes cookies during the holiday season. I have fond memories of my parents and siblings all working together to churn out batches and batches of cookies, particularly chocolate chip cookies. I’m certain that’s when I learned to eat cookie dough, because once when I was in elementary school, one of my younger brothers and I got sick after a huge baking blitz. My mom completely blamed the fact that we were about 2 dozen baked cookies short of what we should have made that day. In addition to chocolate chip cookies, we used to make spritz cookies, some kind of nut balls rolled in sugar and awesome chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

Delicious Fudge

Responsibly sourced chocolate chips from Costco
We’ve been paying a lot of attention lately to the sources of things we buy. We’ve written about fair trade chocolate and the labor practices of companies and we’ve been learning a lot more about these topics. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the battle against Hershey’s and other big chocolate companies to stop child and forced labor in the cocoa fields. The fact that they force children and others to harvest cocoa is why I won’t let my children buy Kit-Kats. When my daughter pressed me to tell her why, I told her straight out that it is because they force children her age to pick cocoa instead of going to school. I’m pretty horrified by the whole situation.
This hopefully helps you understand why I am honestly relieved to find responsibly sourced and reasonably priced chocolate chips at Costco. Not only reasonably priced, but cheaper than the Toll House Chocolate Chips. If I told you how often my children eat chocolate chips, I think you’d lose all respect for me! To be clear, “responsibly sourced” means that they are not certified by the “Fair Trade” organization, but that they work directly with the growers to ensure that everyone in the product line gets paid a reasonable wage. From the bag:
What does this mean for cocoa farmers and their families? It means that they get fair prices for managing their farms through pre- and post-harvest training. The program is bringing about improved community infrastructure, farmer livelihoods, education and healthcare.
- 2 c. Kirkland Chocolate Chips
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
These are awesome. And really simple. They’d make a good cooking lesson for Cub Scouts or someone that needs to try their hand at cooking something, but you don’t want it to be too hard to mess up.
As a double bonus, if you’re at Costco for the chips, pick up their Kirkland vanilla, which is also responsibly sourced. Costco worked with farmers to develop a source of quality vanilla where the farmers and their families are also assisted with the development of their whole community.

No milk or high-fructose corn syrup
Mmm such an easy and yummy recipe! You know, Costco has been pleasantly surprising me with their expanding line of organics and now ethically sourced products! I’m pinning this recipe!
This looks so good! Wonder if I can sub the milk for something non-dairy. Do you know where I can find a full ingredient list on the chips?
Hi Krystyna,
I just added a picture of the ingredient list to the end of the post. Below it there is an allergen warning saying it was packaged on equipment that also “packages products that may contain peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soybeans, milk and eggs.”
Not sure about a diary free substitute for the sweetened condensed milk. If you find one, please share it with us.
Thanks,
Alicia
I found a few substitutes for Sweetened Condensed Milk including recipes for making it yourself.
http://www.godairyfree.org/dairy-substitutes/substitute-condensed-milk-buttermilk-sweetened-powder
I absolutely LOVE this fudge recipe. It’s the one I use every year. It’s so easy! I make mine right in the microwave, and it comes out so smooth and creamy. I hate that fudge that’s so dry it just falls apart on you. This fudge is excellent!
there is Bad news about these chocolate chips… The Food Empowerment Project just learned that Kirkland sources their cacao from the Ivory Coast – so they can not recommend them. Darn it, they knew “responsibly sourced” was a great marketing term, but in this case it is not true!
Kirkland will be added to the “Cannot recommend but at Least they Responded” list.
http://www.foodispower.org/chocolatelist.php
Anonymous, I understand that the worst abuses of workers and most child slavery is in the Ivory Coast and West Africa, therefore I think it is *good* that Kirkland is working there to educate farmers and pay a fair price for the chocolate. We cannot abandon this countries, we have to help those people.
Kirkland is only getting cheap chocolate there.
When asked, they said nothing about educating farmers.
The Ivory Coast is steeped in slavery – to do business there makes them complicit.
You can learn more about this issue from the Food Empowerment Project:
http://www.foodispower.org/