Our selection of sweet specialties for the holidays
Gingerbread
Celebrated on December 6 in eastern and northern France, as well as in many European countries, Saint Nicholas is traditionally the patron saint of children and schoolchildren. Accompanied by Father Fouettard, he comes to offer delicacies to the little ones. Today, we taste the traditional gingerbread decorated in his honor.
The bredele
From November, these small biscuits are made in Alsatian families to keep vigil until Christmas. Traditionally, they were hung on the tree and offered to children and relatives on December 25, until the twentieth century. Their origin dates back to Celtic and Roman times, and constituted offerings to the gods.
The galette des rois
Epiphany is the legacy of a pagan festival dedicated to the god Saturn and the Sun. During the meal, masters and slaves shared a cake in which a bean (at the time, a bean) was slipped to designate the “king of the feast”. Later perpetuated by the Christian tradition, it was only in the seventeenth century that the flaky cake with frangipane made its appearance.
The cottage cheese pie
In Alsatian “Käseküeche”, is also a dessert that makes all Alsatians fall back into childhood! the first traces of this specialty date back to 1598, in Nuremberg, in a recipe book by Anna Wecker. Made from egg, cottage cheese and sugar, what makes this dessert so exceptional is certainly its texture.
The mannele
From the fifteenth century, in Alsace and Moselle, the Mannele are linked to the celebration of Saint-Nicolas. These buns represent Saint Nicholas or the three children killed and cut up by a butcher, whom the patron saint of schoolchildren miraculously resurrected.
Kugelhopf
If his story is legendary and controversial on the one hand, this potter of Ribeauvillé to whom the Three Kings would have prepared a special cake to thank him for his hospitality; on the other hand, Queen Marie-Antoinette who would have imported this Austrian cake, in France its brioche taste and light texture remain incomparable.
