Biscuits Roses de Reims

Reims is the unofficial capital of Champagne’s grape-growing region, but the French city also boasts a namesake sweet designed for dunking in the area’s world-famous wine. Local bakers created biscuits rose de Reims around 1690. Made from sugar, flour, egg, and salt, the twice-baked cookies have a crispness that keeps them from flaking when submerged in liquid. Rather, after going for a dip in a glass of champagne, biscuits rose de Reims melt in your mouth.

These biscuits’ most prominent feature, however is their pink color. Carmine, a red dye made from pulverized cochineal insects, is behind the hue (it’s labeled as “natural coloring E120” on the ingredients list). Bakers found that adding black vanilla bean to white biscuit dough resulted in an unappealing gray color. Their solution was to turn the batter pink, naturally.

Historically, locals dunked this traditional treat into glasses of champagne. However, no one will stop you from dabbling in pairings with coffee, hot chocolate, or other wines.