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Christmas in Switzerland
Christmas in Switzerland

Flavors of Switzerland

Switzerland is a food lover's delight from one canton to the next. However, there is no need to wait for Christmas Eve - in Lucerne on December 6, during celebrations of the feast of St. Nicholas, you can enjoy biscômes, little round spice cakes made with crème fraîche and pear molasses.

The rustic simplicity of the cuisine of the Appenzell canton is evident in its substantial Christmas honey cake, made with 200 g of liquid honey for each 500 g of wholewheat flour, spiced with a pinch of cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.

Christmas in Switzerland 1

The original ingredients of these festive cookies, often simple and of peasant origin such as flour, butter, milk, honey and eggs were enriched over time by spices brought by the monks. They were adorned with delicious exotic flavors of cinnamon, anise, girofle, cardamom, coriander, chilli, ginger and nutmeg.

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After the meal, the tradition is that children receive, before Santa's presents, small parcels containing an orange, a bar of chocolate and a sugar loaf.

Recipes
Christmas in Switzerland 3

Chrismas jam

Basler brunsli
Brunsli, or Basler Brusli, are an essential part of Christmas in Switzerland. These chocolate-almond spice cookies date back to the early 18th century, as evidenced by a recipe from Basel from that time. They contain little flour and are baked for only a few minutes.

Lackerli
Usually served to celebrate the new year, they have become iconic in Basel.

Sugar loaf

Walnut Cookies (Baumnuss Guetzli)
Especially in the small alpine villages, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the time to visit neighbors and family. And all the delicious holiday pastries and cookies are on hand to continue the celebration.

 
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Top photo: painsuisse.ch

Photo Sugar Bread : Swissmilk

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