Pink Biscuit of Reims

Pink biscuits from Reims for dipping in a champagne flute

Maison Fossier’s Biscuits Roses de Reims are the pink ladyfingers from France’s oldest biscuit bakery. Baked twice and dried for a long time according to the old Champagne tradition dating back to 1690 – firm enough for dipping, refined enough for a Sunday afternoon.

Biscuits Roses de Reims by Maison Fossier are the famous pink ladyfingers from the Champagne region, baked according to a recipe from 1690. Eggs, egg whites, sugar, and sifted flour form the base, with a hint of carmine providing the color. Dry, light, with a fine note of vanilla – and with that firmness that makes dipping them into your champagne flute possible in the first place.

Crisp, vanilla-scented, finely sugared

Oblong-shaped, in a delicate pink, dusted with a thin layer of powdered sugar on top – that is how the biscuit rests in your hand. A soft snap when you take a bite, then it slowly melts on the palate.

The vanilla settles as a warm tone in the mouth, and the sugar crunches between your teeth like a tiny sparkle. Crisp, fragrant, vanilla-flavored – and yet delicate. A good third of the recipe consists of egg and egg white, and that is exactly what gives the biscuit its structure.

The biscuit and the champagne flute

Reims tradition dictates that you dip the biscuit only briefly into your glass before bringing it to your mouth. That is exactly what it was made for.

Unlike ordinary pastries, the Biscuit Rose does not disintegrate when doing so. The long drying time after baking makes the egg white partially insoluble, forming a fine structure that absorbs the champagne while still holding its shape. Incidentally, long before champagne, the people of Reims used to dip their biscuits in Bouzy Rouge, Mareuil Rosé, Ratafia, or old Marc.

It makes its most elegant appearance during the Sunday champagne hour, followed by a cup of tea or espresso. In the kitchen, it is a classic for charlottes, strawberry cakes, and tiramisu – a tiramisu with strawberries and Biscuits Roses de Reims instead of the usual ladyfingers gains a pink shimmer you will never forget.

From Reims since 1756, committed to the coronation tradition

Maison Fossier is the oldest biscuit bakery in France, founded in 1756 under Louis XV in Reims, at that time under the name Noël-Houzeau. The recipe for the Biscuit Rose de Reims goes back even further, to around 1690.

Back then, the bakers of Reims had a clever idea: to use the residual heat of the bread ovens to bake a special dough a second time – “bis-cuit,” baked twice. It was white at first. Only when they flavored it with vanilla and the pods crushed in a mortar left almost black specks in the light dough did a baker cover them with carmine.

At the coronation of Louis XVI in 1775, the pink biscuits were on the royal table, and Fossier became a purveyor to the court. “There is no king who did not receive them as a gift for his coronation,” they say at the house. A royal diploma with the seal of Charles X followed in 1825. The biscuit bakery has carried the name Fossier since 1845, when the baker Monsieur Fossier took it over.

Today, around 100 people in Reims bake this French specialty – the only one remaining of 15 biscuit bakeries that were still operating in the Marne in the 1940s. Flour, eggs, and sugar come from France. In 2006, the house received the “Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant” (Living Heritage Company) label, with which the French Ministry of Economy honors craftsmanship that is tied to a specific location. Much respect.

Dip only briefly, the core retains its bite

A brief moment in the glass is enough; the shell becomes soft, the core retains its bite. The 100-gram box with 12 biscuits is enough for an aperitif for two, the 175-gram bag with 21 pieces for an entire evening of indulgence. Stored in a cool, dry place, the pink biscuits will last for months. You can find more biscuits and macarons from Maison Fossier with us. You can taste Reims in every bite.