Bredele – Alsatian Christmas Cookies

Follow this classic bredele recipe to make traditional Alsatian Christmas cookies specifically made for Christmas in France. Differently shaped, bredele cookies make a beautiful edible gift for your family and friends.

The middle of November is the right time of the year to start thinking of Christmas gifts, and edible gifts are not an exception.

At the beginning of December, in Alsace and other France regions, Christmas markets full of festive goodies open their doors.

This is the time of the year when families in Alsace bake these cute cookies - bredele. And yes, they keep them fresh in tin boxes until Christmas Eve.

What are bredele?

Bredele (also known as Bredala and Bredle) are traditional Christmas biscuits in the French region of Alsace. These bite-sized treats come in different shapes and flavors.

The basic bredele, known as butterbredle, are classic butter biscuits. Other variations include scented with aniseed anisbredela, flavored with orange and cinnamon schwowebredle, diamond-shaped Leckerlis, lemon shortbread spritzbredle, etc.

During Christmas time, every Alsatian family bakes up to 10 to 12 variations of these small biscuits, packs them in decorated cookie tins, and shares them with friends.

In every Christmas market of Alsace, you will definitely find bredele sold in different shapes, decorations, and flavors.

If you travel to Alsace around other holidays, you will also be able to find bredele in bakeries that sell differently-themed cookies throughout the year.

History of bredele

According to food historians, the first recipes for bredele go back to the 14th century. At that time, cookies were cut with a knife into triangles, squares, and diamonds. 

Bredele became more popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries due to the introduction of cookie cutters in France.

Bredele recipe

• The basic recipe for bredele calls for only four ingredients, such as butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. This classic bredele is called butterbredle.

• You will make a batch of 50 small cookies.

• These prettiest cookies make a great edible Christmas gift.

• The make-ahead option is perfect for saving time during the busy holiday time.

• Making bredele is a fun baking project with kids.

• Using different shapes and the absence of decoration make these cookies loved by beginner bakers.

• To make different types of bredele, add coconut, almonds, hazelnuts, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon zest, or cocoa. Nowadays, even pecans and pistachio are added to the bredele recipes.

The best cookie cutters to make bredele

These Alsatian Christmas cookies are made in different shapes: from traditional Christmas tree to pretzel, from gingerbread man to headdress, from snowman to Kouglof cookie-cutter.

In Alsace, the most popular cookie cutters are those with shapes of the Alsatian stork, Alsatian couple, or Bretzel, which are symbols of that region.

To keep the tradition, choose small, preferably mini-cookie cutters, to make bredele. A Christmas tree cookie cutter puzzle by Lekue does an amazing job: it allows cutting 19 cookies in a single cutting.

Nowadays, engraved rolling pins also become popular for making patterns in cookie dough.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Flour: This basic recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

• Butter: Use unsalted softened butter. Take butter out of the fridge one to two hours before you start.

• Sugar: Use granulated or caster sugar.

• Eggs: The recipe calls for a whole large egg and egg yolk to glaze the biscuits.

• Icing sugar: Make it yourself with a coffee grinder or use powdered sugar. It is optional to sprinkle biscuits with icing sugar.

How to make bredele cookies

Step 1. To make the dough, place softened butter, sugar, whole egg, and flour in the bowl of a stand mixer (photo 1) and mix (photo 2).

Step 2. Wrap the dough with plastic film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Step 3. Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of ⅕-inch (4 mm) and cut out into desired shapes using Christmas cookie cutters (photo 3).

Step 4. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (photo 4).

Step 5. Brush each cookie with the beaten egg yolk and bake for 10 minutes (photo 5).

Step 6. Let cookies cool down on a wire rack and sprinkle with icing (powdered) sugar (photo 6).

Expert Tips

1. Chill the dough overnight if it works with your baking schedule.
2. Brush cookies with Royal icing and use Christmas sprinkles instead of using icing sugar if you prefer.

When and how to serve bredele

Traditionally, bredele cookies are not eaten until Christmas Eve. Then they are usually served as a dessert or a snack with tea or coffee throughout the holidays.

Another perfect way to serve these cookies is to accompany Alsatian wines such as Crémant d'Alsace, Muscat, and Gewurztraminer.

What time of the day to serve bredele? As per Bredele.fr,

Whether it is to start the day or to end it with a treat, the Bredele are always popular!

How to store bredele

In Alsace, bredele cookies baked in November are stored in metal tin boxes to keep them fresh until Christmas.

Different types of cookies are kept in their own tin box to eliminate the "moisture exchange" between cookies.  

How to pack bredele as a gift

Traditionally, Alsatians pack bredele in rectangular Christmas gift boxes or round decorative tins.

You can also use Christmas cellophane bags or cardboard Christmas cookie boxes to pack your bredele cookies, but you should store cookies in metal tins until you pack them as gifts.

Love Christmas cookies? Try these next!

• Gingerbread Christmas ornaments
• Zimsterne (German cinnamon star cookies)
• French vanilla cookies
• Mini Gingerbread men cookies
• Or browse all the Christmas recipes

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.