12 Types Of French Cookies, Explained

Cookies are the perfect treat when you're in the mood for something sweet but don't want to sit down with a slice of cake or a more elaborate concoction. They're portable, endlessly customizable, and a nice option for dessert or as an afternoon snack with tea. While most people are familiar with a classic Toll House chocolate chip cookie or an oatmeal raisin duo, countless more recipes roam the culinary landscape. We're diving into the vast selection of French cookies to give you the scoop on these portion-sized sweets.

Unsurprisingly, butter plays a key role in many recipes, providing these tasty cookies with a rich melt-in-your-mouth quality. As with most French dishes, regional variations abound, and some cookies are difficult to find outside of their place of origin — which might serve as motivation to try your hand at baking them. Thankfully, the ingredient lists mostly stick to baking staples, making it feasible to recreate these cookies at home. From those with long traditions to more recent creations, here are the French cookies you should know about.

Starting strong with the butter-heavy treats, Petit Beurre is a branded cookie that was first developed in the late 1800s. Made by the LU Company in the city of Nantes along France's Loire River, the simple recipe continues to spawn imitations. The golden brown biscuits feature a stamp in the center that reads, "LU Petit Beurre Nantes" to identify the authentic version, and the packets are labeled "Véritable Petit Beurre" to highlight the original. It's estimated the company produces 1 billion cookies per year, guaranteeing the traditional cookie is enjoyed around the world.

The classic recipe primarily consists of wheat flour, sugar, and butter, proving that just a few simple quality ingredients can deliver delicious results. The rectangular cookie shape is embellished with a scalloped edge, adding a pleasant texture to the first bites. While you can munch on these lightly sweetened cookies as a solo snack, they're especially tasty dipped into a warm café au lait or cup of tea. Additionally, it's easy to upgrade these simple treats by spreading a thin layer of jam on top.

Originally from the northern region of Brittany, sablés bretons once again highlight butter front and center. Similar to classic shortbread, these crumbly cookies are named after their sandy texture, which melts decadently in your mouth with every bite. The recipe is straightforward and emphasizes simple quality ingredients combined with precision to produce a light and airy consistency that results in the iconic cookies. To achieve their uniform disc shape, the dough is commonly rolled out and cut into round shapes.

Salted butter is a key component of French sablés cookie recipes, along with flour, sugar, and egg yolks, both in the dough and brushed over the surface of the cookies before baking. Some variations include finely ground almonds for a subtly sweet and nutty quality, but purists stick to wheat flour. Considering the heavy amount of butter used in the recipe — most traditional recipes feature a high ratio of butter to flour — top quality butter is preferred, with a fat content of at least 82% to ensure creaminess.

Some cookies extend between cultures, developing slight variations depending on their origins. Boudoirs are similar to ladyfingers and related to an Italian cookie better known as savoiardi. They likely evolved from the latter, being passed along through royal families. The cookie was allegedly inspired by the French diplomat Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, who supposedly loved to dip cookies in Madeira wine. The cookie shares its name with private sitting rooms that became popular at the turn of the 20th century.

These cookies are fairly simple to make and incorporate eggs and sugar that are beaten and combined with flour. The lightweight batter is then poured into special pans with an oblong well, forming the classic shape of the soft sponge-like cookies. The long shape is perfect for dipping in warm drinks or for layering in a pan to make desserts, including tiramisu and various cakes like the elegant Charlotte, which features upright boudoir cookies around the perimeter of a sponge cake topped with chilled cream and fruit.

Fans of flaky desserts will love biting into a traditional French palmier cookie, which showcases layers of buttery puff pastry coated with caramelized sugar. Simplicity reigns again in the ingredients list, with the usual few suspects appearing in the recipe: flour, sugar, and plenty of butter. Some accounts suggest the cookies were created to use up leftover scraps of pastry dough, though there's more than enough reason to make them as a solo endeavor.

The pastry is rolled out and each side is folded toward the center into a spiral, creating a shape that can be described as a palm leaf, elephant ear, or even a heart. Once baked, the flaky pastry solidifies, with each bite boasting decadent layers of buttery goodness. Smaller bite-sized treats or larger ones the size of a hand are typically sold at bakeries and pastry shops in France, perfect alongside a cup of coffee or for dessert.

Bordering Germany, the region of Alsace puts its own spin on the Christmas cookie tradition, and it easily comes out on top in any comparison. The name bredeles most likely comes from the German language and is given to the category of cookies prepared during the Advent for Christmas festivities. Winter markets are a typical feature during the holidays in Alsace, and these occasions include vast quantities of cookies, among other delicious goodies. Bredeles come in dozens of shapes and sizes, though at their most basic, they consist of a buttery sugar dough that's cut, baked, and decorated.

The tradition of baking these cookies to serve at events and hand out as gifts during the holidays has been around for centuries, and the wide variety of the selection suggests it's here to stay. Among the numerous add-ins, bredeles can feature spices like star anise, cinnamon, and cloves; nuts like hazelnuts and almonds; fruit jam fillings; citrus zest; liqueurs; chocolate; and more.

The next time someone asks you if the cat got your tongue, consider it a sign that you should whip up a batch of langues de chat (which "translates to cat's tongue"). This French cookie is made with staple ingredients, namely whipped egg whites, flour, butter, and sugar. The result is a wafer-like cookie that's long and similar in shape to a ladyfinger, yet more delicate. Thanks to the thin and airy consistency (and the hefty butter content), they melt in your mouth with every bite.

Considering their simple nature, langues de chat work well as an accompaniment for a scoop of vanilla ice cream or to dip into a milky tea or after-dinner liqueur. That said, it's common to incorporate other ingredients into the recipe for a fun touch, such as layering chocolate ganache between two cookies to make a sandwich. Other add-ins like spices are an easy way to add flavor, and a final dunk into melted chocolate quickly enhances these treats.

French tuiles cookies are paper thin treats consisting of basic ingredients like sugar, egg whites, butter, and flour. They're immediately recognizable by their curved shape, not unlike a Pringles chip. This distinctive curve gives them their name; "tuiles" means "tiles" in French, as they resemble classic roof tiles on the houses in the region of Provence. The curve is achieved by shaping the thin, freshly baked cookie dough over a rolling pin and letting it harden to a crisp. Alternatively, sometimes they're rolled into a complete cylinder to make a tube- or cone-like cookie that's equally crunchy.

Among the variations, you'll find tuiles tweaked with flaked almonds, cocoa powder, orange zest, or spices. These sweet and delicate cookies are a great topper for ice cream, mousse, or pastry cream with fresh berries. Depending on their shape, they can also serve as a vessel to hold these sweet ingredients as a filling. Of course, there's nothing like biting into a tuile cookie and washing the crumbs down with a cup of coffee.

The southern French region of Provence is known for its bounty of sunshine and delicious foods. Among them, you'll find navettes de Marseille, sweet cookies shaped like small boats. Several legends explain the cookie's origin, including one suggesting the shape is meant to mimic a boat that was significant in religious accounts dating back centuries. The cookie itself is far more recent, having been developed in the late 1700s in the oldest bakery in Marseille, Four des Navettes.

Nowadays, it is a symbolic element of Candlemas, a Christian celebration that takes place in early February. The simple cookies consist of sugar, flour, olive oil, and eggs, typically flavored with orange blossom water, though versions with spices like star anise are also popular. Once baked, they harden and become quite crunchy, making them an excellent candidate for dipping into a warm beverage (or for storing indefinitely).

Considering there are plenty of regions in France, it's no surprise that certain cookies show up with multiple variations depending on where they're made. Canistrelli, or croquant aux amandes, are France's version of an Italian biscotti cookie. The former is made on the island of Corsica, while the latter is more common on the mainland, especially in the south, namely in the region of Provence. Croquant means crunchy in French, and that's certainly true of these twice-baked cookies.

At their most basic, croquant cookies are made with flour, powdered sugar, eggs, and chopped almonds to give them an extra bite (almond flour is sometimes incorporated too). They're often aromatized with orange blossom water and can be spruced up with candied fruit, other nuts, or even chocolate. The dough is formed into a baguette-like shape, partially baked, then sliced and further baked. Their notably crispy texture makes them excellent for dipping into coffee or tea, as the simple combination of ingredients lends itself well to a little enhancement.

Although canistrelli are quite similar to croquant cookies once baked, the ingredients are a bit distinct. The dough typically contains olive oil and white wine, and it is usually flavored with anise liqueur and seed. Additionally, chestnut flour is sometimes used as an alternative to wheat. Canistrelli and croquants aux amandes are easy to enjoy at any time, and both are popular around the holidays — especially as a gift.

Palets de dames originate from the town of Lille in northern France. Translated as ladies' pucks, these cookies are indeed puck-shaped, but that's as far as the similarities go. A simple buttery sugar cookie makes up the base, which is typically topped with a lemon-flavored icing sugar glaze (this is the standard in Lille). The cookie is made with basic baking staples like flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, and comes out of the oven with more of a soft, cakey consistency, which pairs particularly well with the sweet glaze.

That said, there are many different versions and regional twists, such as those featuring decorative garnishes on the top, raisins (sometimes soaked in rum), currants, chocolate chips, or icing with different flavorings – including rum. Meanwhile, some palets de dames feature a thin layer of fruit preserve sandwiched between the cookie and icing, adding a pleasant contrast to each bite.

Originally from the town that's home to Champagne production, biscuits roses de Reims are a dazzling pink treat that has been lighting up dessert banquets since the late 17th century. These rose-colored cookies are made with basic components like sugar, flour, and eggs, and they are baked twice to produce a perfectly crisp consistency. The second bake often occurs after the cookies are dusted with extra confectioners' sugar, resulting in a sweet glaze-like coating. Meanwhile, the pink hue comes from food dye, which was first added to counter the dull color produced by the vanilla bean in the cookies.

Their crunchy texture makes them particularly tasty dipped in a glass of Champagne, as per tradition, though they pair just as well with tea if you aren't planning to open a bottle of bubbly to go with dessert. Perhaps due to their association with fine wine, biscuits roses de Reims were also popular among the French royalty. Nowadays, the only bakery in Reims that continues to make the rosy cookies is Maison Fossier, which has been baking them since the mid-18th century. Cookie lovers can even visit the factory to see the production up close.

Lunettes de Romans cookies come from the town of Romans-sur-Isère in the southern area of France. The "lunettes" component of the name means "eyeglasses," which makes sense once you see the treats. These oblong cookies consist of two layers of thinly rolled shortbread dough, stacked with a layer of jam in the middle, peeking through two round cutouts. While the recipe is pretty straightforward, this dessert is sure to impress.

Some versions opt for a single cutout or unique shapes, but the gist of it is to display the fruit jam in the center. Although raspberry is traditionally used, most fruit jams work well alongside the buttery cookies, including apricot or strawberry. Finally, the tops are dusted with powdered sugar to complete these sweet bites. These cookies are a classic that shows up in various cultures, including in Austria as "Linzer augen" ("eyes from Linz"), and in Switzerland and Bavaria as "Spitzbuben" ("cheeky little boys").