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Champagne-Ardenne
A small honey gingerbread, coated in a fine glaze and filled with orange marmalade: the sweet treat said to have been invented by the nuns of Reims, which became a traditional Saint Nicholas' Day gift.
Pastry or bakery speciality from Champagne-Ardenne.
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The nonnette is a small gingerbread cake, filled with orange marmalade and lightly glazed with honey. In the Middle Ages, nuns made this cake in their convent, which explains its name. In Reims, master gingerbread bakers made gingerbread, whilst the nuns of the city's convents shaped it into small individual cakes, soon called "nonnettes" in honour of those who prepared them.
In Reims, the nonnette was built on the reputation of the city's gingerbread. The first master gingerbread bakers settled there: on 2 August 1571, their journeymen claimed their monopoly and the guild was founded, then officially recognised by Henri IV in 1596. The name "pain d'épices de Reims" is reserved for gingerbread containing rye flour. By the mid-18th century, the city had a dozen master gingerbread bakers, and the people of Reims were nicknamed "gingerbread eaters".
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Nonnettes are a traditional gift for the feast of Saint Nicholas. Thanks to the fairs of Reims, they were exported to Paris and the major cities of the north and east. Cambacérès, the Archchancellor of the Empire, regularly had them sent from Reims, and it was customary to offer them to visitors at Court. In the 18th century, this small jam-filled gingerbread disc became one of the city's flagship pastry specialities; in the 19th, it was frequently sold to travellers on stagecoaches, and later trains.
There are two versions of the origin of the name "nonnettes à la reine". Anecdotrip links it to Madame de Sévigné who, in the 17th century, had them sent from Reims: rye nonnettes, decorated with large sugar nibs and flavoured with neroli. Jamie Schler's blog dates its origin to 1725, when Marie Leszczyńska, passing through Châlons, received a dozen boxes of these small cakes, christened "nonnettes à la reine" in honour of her visit.
Reims is not alone in counting the nonnette among its specialities. Anecdotrip lists it among the recipes of Dijon, where the house of Mulot et Petitjean is said to have made it since 1796, whilst noting that it is also found in Reims. Wikipedia and Jamie Schler's blog trace its origin to Reims, before it was eclipsed by Dijon in the 19th century: the Dijon variation, derived from pain d'épices de Dijon, accepts other fillings — apricot, blackcurrant, cherry — whereas the nonnette de Reims remains faithful to orange marmalade alone.
Today, Maison Fossier is presented as the only one still making nonnettes de Reims. Its version is a small wheat-flour gingerbread, filled with orange jam, sold in packs of six.
Appearance
A small round cake with a slightly domed surface like a muffin, coated in a fine glaze; it may be decorated with sugared almonds and "nonpareils".
Taste
A gingerbread rich in honey and lifted with spices, filled with orange marmalade.
Texture
Jamie Schler describes it as light, tender, and moist when homemade, whereas industrial nonnettes are denser and more heavily spiced.
A honey gingerbread, made partly or entirely from rye flour and lifted with spices.
Orange marmalade, the only filling used for the Reims nonnette.
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The nonnette is a classic of the Reims afternoon tea: in Reims, a cup of tea and plates of cakes go hand in hand. They are made and bought all year round, but they are specially baked and given as gifts for Saint Nicholas' Day, on 6 December, and at Christmas.
In the Marne, it features among the sweet treats of local gastronomy, alongside biscuit rose de Reims and croquignoles.
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