The Champagne-Ardenne region lies to the north east of Paris which is home to Rheims (Reims), where stage 4 of the Tour De France will finish today.  After starting off today in Cambrai we saw stage three yesterday with http://www.ramblingtart.com .  We continue our culinary journey through France looking at a sweet biscuit and the biggest exported gourmet food product in the world.

Another reason to pop into the town is to visit the Cathedral of Reims.  This historical site is where the crowning of the kings of France took place in the Roman Empire period.

Rheims is the largest town in the Champagne region and the centre of the champagne industry.   As legend has been told monks brought the method of making sparkling wine from the Languedoc in the south of France.  But the chalky soil and climatic conditions produced great bubbly wine. The storage of the sparkling wine in caves and tunnels under the towns bring many tourists. The Champagne producing vineyards fruit on the chalky hills to the south west of Rheims, and the nearby town of Epernay. Epernay is home to many of the most famous champagne producers, including Moët & Chandon or Perrier-Jouët. There has not been an area made so famous for a product which sells across the globe.  Champagne is a product that camembert cheese can’t compete with in terms of product name. A food product that everyone knows and buys by name alone.

Food in the Champagne region is traditional fare including a famous biscuit known to accompany their renowned sparkling wine, which we will take a closer look at in a moment. Game hunters are at home in the largest hunting ground in France.  Meats that grace the local plates are venison, rabbit, thrush (the bird) and wild boar, which get turned into casseroles and roasts.  Other favorites in the region are pates and terrines flavored with juniper berries.  The area has a relative cool climate and brings potato, cabbage, beets, watercress, leeks and endives to the table.

The Biscuits de Rheims, or Biscuits Rose de Rheims, are a unique product that come out of town.  These biscuits were made for the bakery staff, who bake bread in the mornings, as a little sweet while the ovens were still hot. The recipe is hidden far away.  A confectioner called Fossier made famous it back in the late 18^th century.  They can be bought directly from France at Fossier’s or just buy the biscuit mixture.

Authentic Biscuit Rose de Rheims should be pink, and crunchy, with light delicate dough.  They should not flake when dunked into champagne or other wines and are powdered with icing sugar

My mission was to make these biscuits.  Pink in color, covered in icing sugar and then dunked into champagne (or cheap Australian sparkling white wine), just like in France.  Well I can tell you attempt number one was not very successful.  The mixture spread all over the place, I then found a small muffin tray to see if they would hold the mixture, but they turned out like mini muffins.  Every one thought the first round tasted a bit like meringues.

Round two of the Biscuit de Rheims was a little more successful, I changed the recipe to make them more stiff but not losing their sweet vanilla taste.  After doing the trial of dunking them in champagne they almost taste like apples.  Red wine to not do them justice.  However the critera of the biscuits were to be crunchy, hold  together while dunking them and pink.  I can tick all of these off with round two .

BISCUIT DE RHEIMS RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 eggs
• 145g caster sugar
• 1 pod vanilla seeds
• 112gms plain flour
• 112gms corn flour
• 3gms baking powder
• Icing sugar

Step 1:  in a food processer place egg yolks and sugar, and vanilla.  Mix for about 5/6 minutes.  Add one egg white at a time till combined.

Step2:  Place liquid into a bowl.  Add sifted flours and baking powder and stir with a wooden spoon gently till combined.

Step 3:  place mixture on to a baking tray into shapes.  Keep in mind the mixture will spread still (only a little though)  Dust the tops with icing sugar

Step 4:  Rest the biscuits till for 15 min or till the get a crust forming on top

Step 5:  Place them in a 200’c oven, turn the temperature down to 180 after placing them in and bake for 16/18 minutes.

Step 6: Turn off the oven and leave biscuits for a further 3 minutes

Let the biscuits cool and serve with tea or a nice cold sparkling wine.

Continue tomorrow with stage five it will be a post from http://www.worldonaplate.org/world_on_a_plate/

Tagged as: biscuit de rheims, biscuit de rose', recipe, tour de france