A dense but soft dough with a lovely chewiness and a wonderful taste of almonds and cinnamon, shaped in a cute lovers' embrace. Sweet pretzels are a Luxembourg tradition during the period of Lent for what is called Pretzel Sunday.
Song of the day: 99 Luftballoons - Nena
This month's destination for our group Eat the World is Luxembourg! If you do not know where Luxembourg is, it's a small European Country surrounded by Belgium, France, and Germany.
Luxembourg's tradition
Pretzels are Luxembourg traditional pastries, both salty and sweet, made of a yeast dough, whose shape resembles the interlaced arms of a couple.
They are mostly served in their sweet version during the “Bretzelsonndeg” or Pretzel Sunday.
Tradition wants that every year, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, a man should offer his beloved a sweet pretzel. If she accepts, it means she loves him, and in return she will give him a chocolate Easter egg. If she refuses, instead, he will receive an empty basket, meaning he got dumped.
The recipe for Luxembourg Sweet Pretzels
As a matter of fact, in honor of this Luxembourg tradition, I decided to bake Sweet Love Pretzels. I followed the recipe from Anne's Kitchen. I fell in love with their cuteness, and after the taste test, also with their deliciousness.
How to make the dough
The dough of these pretzels is dense but soft, with a lovely chewiness. It comes together really fast in a stand mixer.
- Melt the butter with the milk in the microwave.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, instant yeast, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Mix on low to incorporate.
- Add the egg to the melted butter/milk mixture, whisk, then add to the flour mixture. Knead for 5 minutes or until smooth. If too dry, add some more milk.
- Shape the dough into a ball, place it into a bowl and cover it with a clean towel. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1.5-2 hours.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling: in a bowl, mix together the ground almonds (or almond four), coconut or brown sugar, cinnamon, egg white, and apricot jam.
Rolling and cutting
- After the rising time, turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle approximately 20 x 30 cm.
- Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, so that you end up with two rectangles, each 30 cm long.
- Spread the filling over one half, then top with the second half.
- With a sharp knife, cut long strips 1 cm wide x 30 cm long. Trim both edges.
Twisting and shaping
- Gently twist each piece of pastry so it looks like a curly straw, then twist it into a pretzel shape and put it onto a lined baking tray.
- Cover the pretzels with a towel and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) convection.
Let rise again, then bake
- After 15 minutes, remove the towel and bake the pretzels in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Let the pretzels cool on a wire rack.
Glaze and almond shavings
To finish off the sweet pretzels, there is a simple glaze made of icing sugar and milk. Drizzle each pretzel with the glaze and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
The Luxumbourg sweet pretzels are indeed not overly sweet. Everything is well balanced, including the last touch of glaze and almonds. The dough is similar in flavor to a brioche, however in texture it has a light crispiness accompanied by a substantial filling that reminds you of marzipan with a nutty cinnamon twist.
More dishes from Luxembourg
Check out all the wonderful Luxembourg dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us!
- Tara: Kniddelen (Luxembourgish Dumplings)
- Radha: Gromperekichelcher
- Sugarlovespices (us!): Luxembourg Sweet Love Pretzels
- Palatable Pastime: Chicken in Riesling
- Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Bouchée à la Reine (Vol-au-Vent)
- Pandemonium Noshery: Bouneschlupp - Luxembourg Green Bean Soup
- Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Bou’neschlupp
- Kitchen Frau: Stäerzelen (Buckwheat Dumplings)
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Gromperekichelcher (Potato Pancakes)
- Sneha’s Recipe: Gromperekichelcher-Luxembourg Potato Fritters
- Making Miracles: Coq Au Riesling
Guys, get your pretzels, and good luck!
Print
Luxembourg Sweet Love Pretzels
A dense but soft dough with a lovely chewiness and a wonderful taste of almonds and cinnamon, shaped in a cute lovers' embrace. Sweet pretzels are a Luxembourg tradition during the period of Lent for what is called Pretzel Sunday.
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 10-11 small pretzels 1x
Ingredients
For the yeast dough:
- 50 g butter
- 60 ml milk
- 250 g flour
- ½ packet (4 g) instant yeast
- 35 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1 egg
For the filling:
- 60 g ground almonds (or almond flour)
- 30 g coconut or brown sugar
- 1 egg white
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp apricot jam
For the glaze:
- 60 g icing sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- flaked almonds, to decorate
Instructions
For the yeast dough:
- Melt the butter with the milk in the microwave. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, instant yeast, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Mix on low to incorporate.
- Add the egg to the melted butter/milk mixture, whisk, then add to the flour mixture. Knead for 5 minutes or until smooth. If too dry, add some more milk.
- Shape the dough into a ball, place it into a bowl and cover it with a clean towel. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1.5-2 hours.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling. In a bowl, mix together the ground almonds, coconut or brown sugar, cinnamon, egg white, and apricot jam.
- After the rising time, turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle approximately 20 x 30 cm.
- Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, so that you end up with two rectangles, each 30 cm long.
- Spread the filling over one half, then top with the second half.
- With a sharp knife, cut long strips 1 cm wide x 30 cm long. Trim off the edges.
- Gently twist each piece of pastry so it looks like a curly straw, then twist it into a pretzel shape and put it onto a lined baking tray.
- Cover the pretzels with a towel and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) convection.
- After 15 minutes, remove the towel and bake the pretzels in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Let the pretzels cool on a wire rack.
- Finally, make the glaze: mix the icing sugar with the milk to become a thick icing. Drizzle each pretzel with the glaze and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Notes
They last 2-3 days. If you want to freeze some, do it before you glaze. Then, when you want to have them, let them thaw and glaze them then.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Luxembourg
I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
Camilla M Mann says
Those look stunning. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I have three people in my household who would LOVE those. I can't wait to try them.
Thank you! I dislike everything that is too sweet, including frosting, icings, ecc, but these are not too sweet. I'm sure they'll love them, but you might as well 😉 .
Wendy Klik says
I love that you shared this tradition with us. What fun....
Nice eh? And Pretzel Sunday is just 4 days away...
Bernice Hill says
How have I NEVER heard of Pretzel Sunday before?!! Thank you for the amazing background info and perfect process description of these sweet pretzels. They do, indeed look like lover's embraced.
★★★★★
I know! Before researching for Luxembourg food to make I didn't either! It's such a cool story and these pretzels are divine.
Radha says
This is absolutely divine. I would love to have the whole plate!
They are small, so at least two are in order! 😉
Tara says
What a fun recipe! I love the twists in the dough along with the glaze and almonds on top. Appreciate that you included the traditions behind the pretzels as well.
You're welcome! I have done them exactly as tradition wants them ;). I love traditional foods from all over the world!
Amy's Cooking Adventures says
These look like the perfect bite! Yum!
Yes, so good! They're small, so you can have a few bites 😉 . Thanks!
Rebekah R Hills says
These are just stunning!!
Thank you! We greatly enjoyed them, quite delicious 😉 .
Margaret@Kitchen Frau says
Those pretzels look absolutely 'love'ly, like they should be in the window of an fancy pastry shop! I love your great how-to photos - you make it look so easy. And reading the story behind them was fun!
Thank you! It wasn't a difficult recipe, I love making yeast dough, a lot! 😉 . These are amazing, I can see making them often!
Ramya says
Just saw this now sorry Will be making this soon with few subs i never had luxembourg sweet love pretzels before not a big fan of sweet stuff too will dm you guys if i make this and let you guys know how it goes Thanks Ramya
They're so good, Ramya! Just had the last two yesterday. Hope you try and let us know. Thank you!