Small ring-shaped biscuits from Roussillon (French Catalonia), flavoured with lemon and a touch of anise and finished with a thin, opaque white sugar-and-egg-white icing that sets dry and crackable. The biscuit underneath is soft and cake-like rather than crisp. Pale, glossy and bite-sized, rousquilles are a traditional confiserie of the Vallespir and the Perpignan area, especially associated with the town of Amélie-les-Bains and with festival sweets.
Rousquilles belong to the Catalan confectionery of Roussillon and the Pyrénées-Orientales, and the same ringed iced biscuit is made across the border in Spanish Catalonia under the name rosquilles/rosquillas. In France they are particularly identified with the Vallespir valley and the spa town of Amélie-les-Bains, where confectioners have long made them. They are a folk and small-confectioner tradition rather than a dated single invention; the lemon-and-anise scenting under a hard white glaze is their constant signature.
A pale little ring that snaps through a brittle white shell of icing into a soft, almost cakey crumb beneath. The first taste is sweet glaze, then bright lemon zest and a cool whisper of anise. It is not a crunchy biscuit — the inside is tender and dissolves quickly — and the contrast between the crisp sugar crust and the yielding interior is the whole point. Served with coffee or as a festival sweet.
The icing is a royal-style glaze of egg white whisked with icing sugar (and a little lemon), spread thin over the cooled biscuit and dried gently so the egg white sets the sugar into a hard, opaque, crackable shell. The dough is kept soft with egg and a little fat and only briefly baked, so it stays pale and cake-tender rather than browning crisp. Anise and lemon are added to the dough; the ring shape gives more surface for the glaze and bakes evenly.
Variations
A well-known richer version, the rousquille fondante or 'Touron'-style, has a softer, more melting interior. Some makers lean more on lemon, others on anise or orange-blossom. The glaze is always white and opaque, though its thickness varies, and the rings range from coin-sized to a little larger.
On the Palate
Where Rousquilles sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
6 steps · 50 min active + 40 min waiting
- 120 min
Make a soft dough with flour, sugar, egg, a little fat, lemon zest and ground anise.
- 215 min
Roll out and cut small rings; rest briefly.
- 320 min
Bake gently until just set and still pale, not browned; cool completely.
Watch outBake only until just set and still pale, not browned — these should stay cake-tender, and colour means you've over-baked them dry.
- 410 min
Whisk egg white with icing sugar and a little lemon to a smooth glaze.
- 515 min
Coat the cooled rings in the white glaze.
- 610 min
Return briefly to a low oven to dry the icing to a hard shell.
Watch outReturn to a low oven only briefly to dry the icing to a hard shell — too hot or too long and the glaze yellows or the biscuit browns.
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