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Centre-Val de Loire
A little puff-pastry figure once exchanged on New Year's Eve: in Chartres, the cochelin is still given, from generation to generation, as a wish for a happy new year.
Pastry or bakery speciality from Centre-Val de Loire.
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The cochelin is a pastry from Chartres shaped like a little figure and fashioned from puff pastry. Its tradition is said to date back to the Middle Ages, when the bakers' brotherhood made it to sell on the evening of 31 December. It was then bought to give to relatives and friends who came to share their New Year wishes.
Custom also had it that godparents would give a cochelin to their godchild on their wedding day. The Spécialités de France website likewise notes that it was gladly given at New Year or to newlyweds. A milestone pastry, in short: less a dessert than a gift to mark a family celebration.
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In the early 20th century, a folklorist from the Beauce, Gustave Fouju, described the shop windows of Chartres pastry makers that, from Christmas Eve onwards, were filled with puff-pastry cakes in human and animal shapes. In the first days of January, the pastry cutters were put away in a chest or cupboard for an entire year. In the countryside, every housewife made her own, and cochelins were once the only New Year gifts for young children, sometimes accompanied by a small coin.
The same author wondered about these figures: were they, originally, representations of those who came to adore the infant Jesus in his manger? He admitted he could not settle the matter.
The origin of the word "cochelin" remains unknown: the Spécialités de France website admits to not knowing the origin of the pastry's name, which it hesitates to place in western or central France, whilst still ranking it among the specialities of Eure-et-Loir. The tradition, however, is being revived: the pastry makers of Chartres are bringing it back to life and offering the cochelin throughout the Christmas period.
Appearance
the silhouette of a little figure outlined in puff pastry. In the early 20th century, Chartres pastry makers also shaped it into a cockerel, dog, horse, pig, rider, fish, stag, sometimes a lion, and even a giraffe.
Taste
plain, or enhanced with a filling: chocolate or almond paste according to the Ville de Chartres, jam according to the tourist office and Spécialités de France.
Texture
very light puff pastry, all the more fragile the larger the figure, as an early 20th-century folklorist noted.
The pastry is cut with a cutter into the shape of a little figure.
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The cochelin is enjoyed and given during the end-of-year festive season: it is at this time that the pastry makers of Chartres put it back in their windows, and tradition destines it for loved ones visiting to offer their good wishes. An early 20th-century account describes it as being bought in Chartres "from Christmas Day to New Year's Day".
No official label (PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP), Label Rouge) protects the cochelin de Chartres: it is a traditional pastry, made without formal specifications or an appellation.
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