This bakery in Chartres has resurrected the cochelin, an ancestral tradition for Christmas

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A beautiful row of small cookies in the shape of snowmen who, if they could speak, would gladly cry “eat me, eat me”! These sweet characters, lined up in the Marlene's Bakerythese are cochelinsan ancestral pastry whose traces date back to the Middle Ages and of which we also find references in Perche in particular. Other sources speak of the coming of Napoleon I in 1808 to Courville-sur-Eure.

A tradition in any case closely associated with Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) but which had been lacking for a very long time and was taking on the appearance of a quest for the Holy Grail for lovers of local Christmas delicacies. So, last year, Marlène Boehm rolled up her sleeves to bring these little rascals back to life! A success story.

Sweets for New Year's Eve

Marlène's bakery in Chartres relaunched the manufacturing and marketing of cochelins, a historic pastry from the Middle Ages in 2023.

Traditionally, these little sweets were sold on New Year's Eve, December 31 to be offered to parents and friends who have come to present their New Year wishes.

This pastry had disappeared from Eurelian bakeries. However, it remained mentioned on the Chartres Tourist Office website, sparking requests from customers looking to obtain it.

Find the original recipe now

Faced with this interest, Marlène decided to resume making cochelins. Not having the original recipe, she conducted research and was able to find it thanks to Séverine, one of her salespeople.

Séverine's parents, bakers by trade, once made these famous cochelins. Thanks to this valuable transmission, Marlène and her team were able to resume their production in December 2023, also using a suitable cookie cutter to their iconic shape.

Marlène is also in search of two additional cookie cutters to increase production.

200 cochelins per week

Arnaud, tourier (the one who shapes the dough for pastries, tarts, etc.) and pastry chef at the Boulangerie de Marlène, explains that puff pastry, egg yolks, sugar, brown sugar and chocolate chips are the ingredients necessary to make these little sweet men before twelve minutes of cooking.

During the week, around twenty cochelins are sold each day, and this figure rises to forty during the weekend, attracting the inhabitants of Chartres. La Boulangerie de Marlène is today the only one to have reintroduced this Eurelian tradition.

It is a way of preserving the heritage and wealth of our region. The cochelin, is priced at €2.60, and is available exclusively during the holiday period.

█ Practical:
La Boulangerie de Marlène, 1, Place des Halles in Chartres.

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