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These may be the best cookies in the world. Okay, they’re not really cookies, per se. At least not in the French sense. Les cookies refers to chocolate chip cookies and these ultra-thin, ultra-crisp, and ultra-buttery tasting crêpes dentelles are so different, yet so good, you’ll find yourself eating your way through several of them in no time. To prove that point, as a courtesy, the company that makes them places two crêpe dentelles in each shimmering foil packet because they know that it’s impossible to eat just one.

The other great thing about these cookies (let’s just go with that, in English), is that you can pick up a box in any French supermarket, yet the cookies are grand and elegant enough so that restaurants in France have no problem serving store-bought cookies to customers. At least I’ve never heard any complaints. French grandparents and others are known to crumble cookies over a dish or bowl of ice cream to dress it up at home. (For the record, I like to think that I still fall into the “others” category – even though a young man offered me his seat on the métro the other day.)

Crêpes dentelles were traditionally made by hand, smearing the batter over a hot griddle so it’s extra thin, then rolling the still-warm, buttery batter quickly around a wooden tool to form them into shape. Here’s a “vintage”-quality look at how they make them at one espace de fabrication in Brittany:

I suspect most are made by machine now. You can visit the factory of the parent company, but the biscuiterie where the Gavottes are made isn’t open to the public. Even so, the list of ingredients doesn’t read like a science project: flour, butter, sugar, malt, salt, and leavening. If you want to give them a go, I found this video recipe here. They don’t look that hard, but as those who follow me on Instagram saw last week, I spent a solid four days making 9 jars of jam, so I don’t think one has to make everything that’s possible to make by hand. (Thank goodness Romain does dishes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even have time to write blog posts.)

Plus I’m watching The Good Place on Netflix and that’s my priority until I reach the end. Don’t get me wrong. I love cooking, baking, and making jam. But one does need to go outside once in a while. And if it wasn’t for the remarkable speed at which Romain can plow through a jar of homemade jam, I’d definitely be able to get out even more.

Another plus going for these cookies/crêpes dentelles is that they’re not crazy-expensive; they sell for around €2 for a box in France, which relieves any DIY-related guilt I might have for not making them. In the U.S., you can find them online and I’ve seen them in specialty stores, like Sahadi’s in New York, and Monsieur Marcel in Los Angeles, as well as in well-stocked supermarkets too. They’re a little more expensive than in France, but it’s not like you have to have a Visa Executive Platnum card made of ground-up precious gems to afford them. I’m sure you have enough money in your change jar or wallowing in the bottom of your purse or pocket to spring for a box. Believe me, they’re worth it.

The company has started making Gavottes in a variety of flavors like salted butter caramel and pineapple-passion fruit, and also enrobes them in dark or milk chocolate. Like being an introverted extrovert, I’m a traditionalist/anti-traditionalist and know that some foods can be improved by adding previously untraditional ingredients to them (like Italians did good by adding tomatoes to their cuisine, for example, and corn for polenta), but others are best left alone, like the Salade Niçoise I recently had at a café that had more rice on it than vegetables, or the infraction of putting canned corn (or riz) on a Caesar Salad, although I will allow chicken on a Caesar, but only if you’re at an airport.

I’m not convinced, however, that these cookies can be improved, although they do go remarkably well with hot chocolate, whether you’re a dunker, dipper, or prefer to keep your sips and snacks separate, as I do. (For those who read these words extra-carefully, I do like them scattered on ice cream, but not mixed in.) But really, you can have these anytime, in any place, and on (almost) anything.

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43 comments

    • Dana

    Oh I fell hard for these when I was in Paris and they’re one of my cousin’s favorite “cookies”. We always had them around. (They live in the 17th). I think they make a good inclusion in chocolates too.

    • Fazal Majid

    Costco regulary sells the chocolate-dipped ones (albeit grotesquely calling them Belgian). They have also announced plans to expand their market presence in the US.

    Aren’t crêpes dentelle the same thing as the feuilletine that is sometimes used to add crunch to praliné?

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Yes, and you can buy tubs of them for commercial use. They sometimes are mixed into chocolate bars. (Odd that Costco would call them Belgian, but I Googled it and saw the are dipped in Belgian chocolate and they do say the cookies are from Brittany.)

        • Erica

        are the Costco/Kirkland ones any good?

    • Charlotte K

    Many years ago (like….40?!?!) I was a “shopgirl” in a high end French pastry shop in NYC. We also sold this sort of thing, gavottes, chestnut cream in jars, etc. I still have a lovely gavotte tin from that era.

    • Dr. CaSo

    Oh I love, love, love, love these things! I have a special process for eating them without making a mess and eating them to the last little crumbs so I don’t waste even the smallest bit of these delicious treats! They don’t travel well, though, because they are so fragile, so I enjoy them whenever I am in France :)

    • Jann

    Please keep making Roman jam so he will do the dishes and we can read your blogs! A cookie I never knew existed is now on my radar.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Fortunately I don’t have to make him do the dishes…he does them on his own, and sometimes he insists on doing them when I’m about to start (Insert *heart* emoji here!)

    • Connie

    I love crepes dentelles and will plow through a box in less than a minute, I find them at Market Hall in the Bay Area. (BTW I hate to be *that* reader, but I noted what may be a typo – I think you meant “crazy-expensive,” instead of “crazy-inexpensive”.)

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I checked their site (because I live Markethall Foods) and didn’t see them, but glad they sell them in their shop. The typo was only in the email that went out but was already corrected in the post. Appreciate your letting me know : )

      • WIllsy

      Are you referring to the San Francisco Bay Area?

          • Monica K

          Love these as well. I actually bought 5 boxes last time I was there. So so good.

    • PZ

    Ordered from Amazon.
    I will wait impatiently

    • nancy

    “And if it wasn’t for the remarkable speed at which Romain can plow through a jar of homemade jam, I’d definitely be able to get out even more.”

    You and Romain came to mind while I was listening to the Splendid Table podcast last Saturday. Francis Lam interviewed Joe Yonan about his new cookbook, Cool Beans. Joe was describing recipe development when his charming husband and live-in-taste-tester Carl Mason joked about eating beans . . . lots of beans . . . for weeks. Joe promised Carl no more single subject books. The loving light of this couple was a joy. https://www.splendidtable.org/episode/702

    Thanks for all you give us, David. Wishing you a peaceful heart.

    • rainey

    Uh oh! If you’re getting to the finale of The Good Place you’ll need something wonderful at hand.

    I just watched for the third time yesterday morning and cried my way through it just as much as the first time. But don’t worry. There are lots of laughs too. And all the excuse you’ll need to be grabbing those yummy cookies to console yourself.

      • Linda S

      I’ve never cried so much because of a show before. I thought it was a really lovely ending.

        • rainey

        It was PERFECTION!

    • Sally Wright

    Just ordered mine on Amazon to be delivered tomorrow! You are a terrible influence…

    • vonmoishe

    Love how you un-ironically bookended reasons not to cook all the time with “Netflix” and “needing to get outside.”

    • Susan B.

    The summer I was seven spending time with my grandparents at the beach, I remember seeing the ladies in black, with their tall white lace coifs, making the crepes dentelles on an angled griddle in the marketplace. Pornichet was pretty small so it was probably in Concarneau. Another highlight of that summer was a rainy day tour of the LU factory in Nantes. Distant, happy memories!

    • Susan

    I make something similar called Krumkaker. They are a Scandinavian cookie made with a thin batter on a special iron. I have the iron and have made them mostly for the holidays. The Krumkaker is rolled around a cone shaped mold and are eaten either plain or filled with whipped cream. Delicate and delicious..

      • Marianne

      They are known as rullrån in Sweden and have been made on these irons since the 18th century. Rull means roll and the crepe is rolled around a pin. Or they can be made into baskets and filled with cream, jam or fruits.

    • Parisbreakfast

    Oh Maxims gives you these immediately when you enter their Louvre Caroussel shop (enrobed in chocolate and wrapped in foil). They are delish but I always resist buying. Heading out to Carrefour to get some toute suite. Merci!

    • Anne

    I love these too :) In melt chocolate or praliné, it’s paradise :p

    • Rachel

    Yes these cookies are amazing – have you had the milk chocolate coated ones???

    However, you’ve made me very sad as I no longer have ready access to them and when I saw the post headline in my newsfeed I thought it was a recipe…

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      There is a recipe – it’s linked in the post! : )

        • Cathy Grafton

        Dear David, can you give us an update to what to expect now and coming up in Paris. I am still hoping for another visit in two weeks. Are things closing I don’t come so much for tourist sites, but just to be. To visit my favorite gardens, shops and restaurants. Any hope for this. Merci

          • David
          David Lebovitz

          I can’t say what is going to be coming up in the future as no one knows, as the situation continues to evolve and change. This article came out how France is better prepared than Italy, however a surgeon told us that the country is not ready at all. (I doubt many countries are ready for this.) Right now restaurants and cafés are open and full, but that can change. Larger events, like opera performances, have been canceled. The Louvre closed but has reopened.

          If you do come now, there is no hand sanitizer or alcohol (or mask) at any of the pharmacies in Paris at the moment so bring your own.

    • CHANTAL

    I purchased a 44 oz box (120 packages of 2 gavottes ) for less than $20 at my local CHINESE grocery super market in Sugar Land Texas.
    I have noticed that they, and other located Chinese stores carry many french cookies, pirouettes, etc

      • Anne

      Exactly. Asian supermarkets are where I go to get this style cookie too.

    • Sipagolda

    In Northern Virginia I used to find them at the Great Wall, a large Asian grocery, store in Falls Church. They were quite cheap.

    • Jesse Livermore

    Lidl USA sells a reasonable facsmile, complete with gold wrapper and made in Brittany.

    $1.99 for a package of 10.

    • Jane

    Right before I opened this, I had three of the little pkgs! haha! We just arrived in Maisons-Laffitte for our annual 3 month stay for my husband’s work, and the owner of our rental leaves us (me, because I eat most of them) a box of the Gavottes and a box of Les Galettes de Pont-Aven, also made with butter. He lives in Brittany, so likes to give us his local goodies. Both so delicious, and hard not to eat the whole box at once.

    David, do you know if Drinking French is available at Shakespeare and Co? I want to get it while I’m in France so if there are any bottles I need to take home with me I can acquire while here. I discovered Noyau Poissy last year because the sommelier at our local epicerie is from Poissy and suggested I try it. I love it, but had run out when you posted that recipe. Bought my new bottle Saturday and can’t wait to try the mix.

    Always hopeful I’ll run into you in Paris :) If I can get a copy of the book I’ll have to carry around with me just in case! ;)

    Merci! Bonne Journee!

    • Barbara H

    Drinking French is at my doorstep–can’t wait to retrieve it and start reading/drinking. Wish I had some of these cookies to accompany. Am looking for San Diego sources.

    • Nikki

    David,

    I’ve read your blog for nearly a decade, and I’ve never left a comment until now. As a Vietnamese American, I remember my parents buying them at the Vietnamese grocery store all throughout my childhood.

    A note for others- they’re very affordably priced at Vietnamese grocery stores in Little Saigon, Orange County, California.

    • Bridgette O’Malley

    OMG, I love these. They have them at Bottle King in NJ and at the Fairway markets. I was on a 30 plus year quest to find the little cookies they would place in your ice cream in Spain in the 70’s. The ice cream would be one small scoop with candied walnuts and a rolled cookie on the top. I saw these at Fairway last year and bingo…A taste memory found!

      • Monica K

      Woo, Thanks for the info! On my way to the Bottle King right now.

    • Sarah

    I’m a French teacher for middle and high school students in Michigan. I always have these on hand for a special prize. The kids (and I) love them!

    • btakmac

    Oh David, we watched the season finale of The Good Place the night before I read your post – such a poignant, heartful, soul expanding series. I love that there are connections beyond food with you!

    • Charlotte Steinzig

    Probably out of sync with correct blog comment space, but I just sat down with your new book (pre-ordered) and I love it! My youngest came in and said “mom, you’re smiling.” It’s wonderful. And beautiful.

    • Michele St Laurent

    I love these since I was a child in Paris. I carry them in my cafe in NYC on the Uppereastside @chezlesfrenchies so everyone can have their childhood memories

    • Michèle

    I bought some of these yesterday from Carrefour. Absolutely scrummy although very light and somewhat insubstantial.

A

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