Petit Écoliers from scratch

Petit coliers, also known as tiny schoolboy cookies, combine delicious dark chocolate with a buttery French biscuit for a delectable bite-sized delicacy!

Some of my employees are enthusiastic about something. Very passionate. Let me give you a brief overview:

  • One loves cats and is a self-proclaimed “crazy cat lady”.
  • One loves elderly pugs and collects them like trading cards (all jokes aside, she fosters many dogs and it’s a truly wonderful thing that I wish I could do).
  • Another adores all animals – so much so that she visits animal sanctuaries and sponsors pigs. Sometimes their name is Eric, because, you know… pigs are named Eric and not Babe.
  • One loves kitchen gadgets (clearly I’m on her wavelength about this one). Dual-purpose gadgets are her bread and butter.
  • One recently got his black belt after years of hard work, and loves all things ninjaesque.

It is just a tiny selection, but you get the picture.

I bring this up because I have yet to find anything in life that really excites me. Don’t get me wrong, there are things that make me joyful.

Lobster, ice cream, puppies, and sea otters are all popular foods. They are my favorite things. They provide me joy.

But I wouldn’t say I’m particularly fond of them. The sensation I get while I’m fiddling about in the kitchen attempting to put together a dish comes the closest.

It’s probably not passion, but it’s certainly rewarding to produce a tasty end product that I want to share with you all.

Enter LU Petit Écoliers.

We had a birthday party at the workplace a few weeks back, and there were a few boxes of Petit coliers on the table. Two of my colleagues went insane about it. They were as delighted as children on Christmas morning!

They began to tell me how petit coliers reminded them of their youth and how much they enjoyed those little biscuits. I mean, I enjoy them, but I’ve never gone crazy over them. I continued thinking about them and decided to attempt to build them myself. I purchased a package of them and set to work dissecting the components and getting it correct. It took many batches for me to reach the correct blend of salty and sweet. And, to be honest, I believe they came out a little saltier than I would have liked.

Although they aren’t precisely the same, comments from those same two colleagues indicated that they are superior than the packaged kind. They also enjoyed how the buttery biscuit layer was saltier. I’ll accept it.

As corny as it sounds, I’ve found that pairing them with a glass of milk is ideal. The cookie just takes one or two bites to complete, and then you may wash it down with some cold, creamy milk. Mmmm.

There’s just enough sweetness to fulfill a chocolate need, but also enough saltiness to keep you from reaching for a bag of chips. And, believe me, they are better than chips.

They would also make great Christmas presents. Wrap them up in cute gift bags or boxes and show your friends and family some oven love. It will definitely outperform a fruitcake, believe me.

Feeling fancy? Here are more French cookies:

  • Classic French Madelines by Baker by Nature
  • Chocolate Madelines by Family Style Food
  • How to Make Macarons by Zoe Bakes
  • Vanilla Bean Sables by Alexandra’s Kitchen

Homemade Petit Écoliers

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Prep Time: 1hr30mins
Cook Time: 20mins
Total Time: 2hrs
Servings: 24cookies
    ✓ Read the recipe beginning to end
    ✓ Check oven calibration
    ✓ Check expiration dates
    ✓ Properly measure ingredients
    ✓ Check butter temperature

Description

Also known as “the little schoolboy” cookies, petit écoliers have decadent dark chocolate paired with a buttery French biscuit for a sweet bite-sized treat.

Equipment

  • Mixing bowls
  • Pastry cutter

Ingredients

  • 1egg
  • 1cupall-purpose flour, sifted
  • ½cupconfectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • ¼teaspoonvanilla extract
  • ¼teaspoonsea salt
  • ½cupcold unsalted butter, diced
  • 1cuphigh quality dark chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, mix together egg, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt with a wooden spoon.
    1 egg, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender (or a fork – that’ll just take longer). I can’t emphasize enough that the butter needs to be cold – even frozen will work.
    1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
  • As this point, you’ll probably need to use your hands to combine all the ingredients – if the butter starts to get melty due to the warmth of your hands, place the bowl in the fridge for a little bit until it firms up again.
  • Turn the dough out on a flat surface covered in wax paper. Set another piece of wax paper on top and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to around 1/2 cm. Place flattened dough in the freezer for 1 hour.
  • While the dough is chilling, prepare the chocolate tablets. Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring every 15 seconds or so until melted and smooth. Pour melted chocolate into mold and place the mold in the fridge for an hour.
    1 cup high quality dark chocolate
  • Remove dough from freezer and use a rectangle cookie cutter to cut out each of the biscuits. Place them back in the freezer for another 15-20 minutes and start preheating the oven to 350º F.
  • Place biscuits on a baking sheet prepared with a silicon baking mat and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack to cool completely.
  • When biscuits are completely cooled, remove each of the chocolate tablets from the mold. Melt a little bit more dark chocolate and add a couple drops to the center of each biscuit, then place a chocolate tablet on top.
  • Store in an airtight container, preferably in the fridge to prevent the chocolate from melting. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 99kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 29mg | Potassium: 61mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 131IU | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg

FAQs

Is Petit Ecolier the same as Petit Beurre?

The Petit Écolier (and its knockoffs) consists of a petit beurre topped with a slab of chocolate. Chocolate comes in a variety of flavors, including the conventional dark or milk chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate packed with a milky cream.

What is petit beurre biscuits?

A little, oblong, butter biscuit. Petit Beurre is a French term that dates back to 1886 and means “little butter.” Petit Beurre is really a generic term for a butter-flavored biscuit with a distinctive form and flavor.

What is in Le Petit Ecolier cookies?

Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Lactose, Nonfat Milk, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin (Artificial Flavor), Wheat Flour, Sugar, Butterfat, Nonfat Milk, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate). Milk, soy, and wheat are present. Tree nuts may be present.

Is Petit Ecolier French?

Produced in France. Our “signature” design entices with glossy, dark European chocolate coupled with an oh-so-French buttery biscuit. The 45% cocoa is really rich. A one-of-a-kind biscuit-and-chocolate experience. Petit Ecolier premium twin sleeves are carefully crafted to keep their freshness.

Are biscuits better with butter or shortening?

While butter provides more taste, shortening makes the biscuits more soft since it lacks water and milk solids. The fat must be frozen. The fat generates tiny pockets throughout the biscuit dough, and when the fat melts in the oven, the CO2 from the leavening agent fills the spaces, causing the biscuits to rise.

What is best for biscuits butter or shortening?

So, what’s the ultimate word? The winner here is butter. The butter biscuits were moister, with a delicious butter flavor and a melt-in-your-mouth quality. I’d be interesting to see whether you could have the best of all worlds by replacing half or just two tablespoons of the butter with shortening.

What nationality is Petit Biscuit?

Mehdi Benjelloun (born 10 November 1999) is a French DJ and music producer better known by his stage name Petit Biscuit (French pronunciation: [pti biski]).

Where are Petit Ecolier made?

When I was a kid visiting my family in France and Switzerland, I used to adore nibbling on Petit Beurre biscuits, particularly those manufactured by the French company Lu and especially those that came with a chocolate bar on top, known as Petit écolier.

What does LU Petit Ecolier mean?

Bouisset, who was already well-known for his work for Menier Chocolate, produced Petit Écolier (“the Little Schoolboy”), which had the LU initials.

What is grandma cookies made of?

Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Anhydrous Dextrose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavors), Vegetable Shortening (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and…

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