Trappist Cookies are handmade cookies produced by the monks of Trappist Monastery in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Carefully baked with traditional methods, these cookies are known for their light, delicate flavor and crisp texture.
The cookies are made at Our Lady of the Lighthouse Trappist Monastery, a monastery for men located in Hakodate. The recipe was created in 1936, and the traditional production method has remained largely unchanged since then.
The cookies reflect the careful craftsmanship of the monks, who have continued to make them with great attention to detail over many decades.
One of the distinctive ingredients is Trappist Butter, a cultured butter developed around 1897 through many years of research by French and Japanese monks.
The butter is made by fermenting cream with lactic acid bacteria. This gives it a smooth, mellow richness and a distinctive buttery flavor.
Trappist Cookies are baked with this flavorful cultured butter kneaded into the dough. The result is a characteristic texture: crisp and pleasantly delicate when you bite into the cookie, followed by a smooth sensation as it melts in your mouth.
The gentle flavor makes them easy to enjoy with tea or coffee, while their connection to the monastery gives them a special place among Hakodate’s traditional souvenirs.