Recipe Gallery

Sweet Bretzel for Bretzelsonndeg

Luxembourg has lots of quaint traditions, but above all, Bretzelsonndeg is one really lovely example. Every year, on the 4th Sunday of Lent, we celebrate ‘Bretzel Sunday’. Here, a man should offer his beloved a sweet bretzel. If she accepts, she in return will have to give her man a chocolate Easter egg for Easter. If she refuses, she gives him a basket – hence the Luxembourgish expression ‘hie krut de Kuef’ (he got the basket) if you get dumped…

In leap years, the tradition reverses. Then, the woman is due to offer a pretzel in return for an Easter egg. It’s said that in old times, Bretzelsonndeg set the seal on many marriages.

You will find bretzels in every bakery in Luxembourg at this time of year, but if you really want to impress your love, I think you should bake the bretzel yourself with my foolproof recipe.

This year Bretzelsonndeg will be on the 7th March 2027 – and since it’s no leap year, it’s down to the man to offer the Bretzel.

This is the cover recipe from my book Baking with Anne, and one of my most popular baking recipes to date.

This recipe was filmed as part of my ‘Tastes of Luxembourg’ series for RTL Today.

Ingredients

Makes 2 bretzels – Prep: 45min – Resting: 1h + 2h setting of the icing – Oven: 25min

For the dough:
80g butter
250ml full fat milk, lukewarm
25g fresh yeast
500g flour (T55)
40g sugar
¾ tsp salt
1 egg

For the filling:
160g ground almonds
60g dark brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
a pinch of salt
1 egg
4 tbsp apricot jam

For the icing:
A bit of apricot jam
70g icing sugar
1 tbsp full fat milk
20g flaked almonds

Method

Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.

Crumble the yeast into the milk, and stir to dissolve.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add the melted butter, milk and egg to the flour while kneading with the kneading attachment of a freestanding mixer. Knead the dough in the machine for 5 minutes (or for 10 minutes if kneading by hand). You want a soft, slightly sticky dough.

Cover the bowl with the dough with a teatowel and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: put the almonds, dark brown sugar, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a bowl. Separate the egg an only add the egg white to the bowl – reserve the egg yolk for later. Add the apricot jam and mix, adding a bit of water if it seems too dry.

Turn the dough onto a flour-dusted work surface and roll into a rectangle approximately 70 x 30 cm. Cut the rectangle four long strips. Spread the filling over two strips, then top each with another bar dough strip.

Carefully twist each piece of pastry so it looks like a curly straw, then twist into a bretzel shape and put onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover with two teatowels and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the leftover egg yolk with a tablespoon of milk.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

Before they go in the oven, brush each bretzel with the egg wash.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush the hot bretzels with apricot jam and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, make the icing: mix the icing sugar with the milk to become a thick icing. Toast the flaked almonds in a frying pan until browned.

Drizzle each pretzel with icing and sprinkle with almond flakes.

Leave to set for at least 2 hours before serving, so that the icing becomes firm.