4 sweet specialities from Reims

Apart from being a truly champagne city, Reims has other specialities to offer. Local sweets are in great demand. The ones you will notice right away, as they are available in most foods stores and hotels, are the BISCUIT ROSE and BOUCHON au marc de champagne. There is also MASSEPIN de Reims, a sweet available only in a few places, but absolutely delicious. Let’s take a closer look

Biscuit Rose

Fossier specializes in the production of the legendary BISCUITS ROSES (pink biscuits) and is the sole keeper of the traditional recipe. A local legend tells us that this delicacy was invented by a local baker 300 years ago. He decided to make use of the oven heat left over from baking bread. Small portions of dough are baked at a low temperature for 17 minutes. The biscuits are then dried for another hour in a cooling oven; this way they become crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The bright pink colour is obtained by using natural carmine dye, originally to mask the vanilla particles. It does not add any specific flavour.

Croquignoles CROQUIGNOLES are another culinary specialty from Reims. This very dry and crunchy cookie, white or pink in colour, elongated and round on the edges, is prepared from a mixture of flour, egg white and sugar. It is in fact a by-product of the “pink biscuit” production, as the idea comes from making use of a run-off from the cookie dough in the oven. Again, the local company Fossier is the only one to have kept the know-how.

Bouchon au marc de champagne

BOUCHON is a sweet in a shape of a champagne bottle cork, about 2 centimetres long filled with a local alcoholic beverage “marc de champagne”. The invention of this speciality belongs to the founder of Chocogil company, Gilbert Broisson and dates back to 1956.

Marc de champagne is a type of distilled alcohol made from skins, pulp, seeds and stems left over from winemaking after pressing the grapes. The grapes must come from the Champagne vineyards.

How the BOUCHON is made? A thin shell of granulated sugar is filled with marc de champagne liquor, coated with melted chocolate, drained and cooled. The packaging is made of shiny aluminum paper to imitate the colour of a champagne bottle cork. Let the chocolate melt on the tongue until it releases the alcohol!

This speciality is widely available but the absolutely best are made by the famous chocolate maker from Reims La Petite Friande

Massepain de Reims

MASSEPAIN is a kind of macaroon with a light brown colour. This local sweet is distinguished from other macaroons by its hole made with a wooden cone dipped in sugar. Very small in size, from three to five cm in diameter, the marzipan is made of almonds, egg whites and sugar.

MASSEPAIN is becoming a rare product to find. Only a few places in Reims still sell them. Here are two of them: La Biscuiterie de Reims and the bakery La Case à Pain

Adresses :

Biscuits Rose and Croquignoles – Fossier, 25 Cr Jean-Baptiste Langlet, 51100 Reims @biscuitsfossier

Bouchon au marc de champagne – La Petite Friande, 15 Cr Jean-Baptiste Langlet, 51100 Reims @petite.friande

Massepains – La Biscuiterie de Reims, 13 Rue de Mars, 51100 Reims @biscuiteriedereims

Massepains – La Case à Pain, 5 Pl. du Forum, 51100 Reims @caseapain