I found these "Christmas tree pretzels" in an old essay booklet given to me by a son of the Hönge family, who lived in a district of the municipality of Waldems, at the north-western foot of the Feldberg in the Taunus. The exercise book is filled from cover to cover with baking recipes written in pencil in Kurrent script. This book contains mainly Christmas pastries, such as Christmas Stollen, pepper nuts, speculoos, brenten, aniseed biscuits, spritz cakes and macaroons. A true treasure that I will cherish. These Christmas tree pretzels were most likely baked as decorations for the Christmas tree and hung from the branches with thread.
100 grams of butter
200 grams of sugar
2 eggs
500 grams of flour
1 packet of baking powder
8-10 tablespoons of milk
1 egg, whisked, for brushing
1. Cream together the butter and sugar.
2. Add the eggs one at a time.
3. Mix the flour and baking powder, add to the butter-egg mixture alternately with the milk and mix well.
4. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 minutes, and then roll it out on a lightly floured baking board to form a smooth dough.
5. Cut strips from the dough, shape them into small rolls about "pencil thick" and shape them into pretzels.
6. Finally, brush the pretzels with beaten egg.
7. Bake in the preheated oven at 200 °C for about 10 minutes until golden.
Tip: If you like, you can sprinkle the pretzels with cinnamon and sugar or colourful sprinkles and pearls.
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