Crafts Around The World: Luxembourg!

By guest author Katy of Sycamore Stirrings

"Moien! Greetings from Luxembourg.
Never heard of Luxembourg? You’re not
alone. Let me share a little information
with you. Luxembourg is a tiny country
wedged in between France, Germany and
Belgium. I’m not exaggerating when I say
tiny; Luxembourg only has an area of 1000
square miles. For you Americans, that is
about the size of Rhode Island! Luxembourg
has 3 national languages – French, German
and Luxembourgish. Yep, that means children
who go to public school here learn 3
languages! Pretty amazing, huh?
Luxembourg borrows many of its holidays
and traditions from France and Germany.
Today, though I’m going to share a holiday
with you that is purely (well, almost)
Luxembourgish – Bretzelsonndeg.

Bretzelsonneg, or Pretzel Sunday, occurs on
the 4th Sunday in Lent. This year it will be on
March 14th. On this day boys give the girl
they like a pastry shaped as a pretzel. The
larger the pretzel the more the boy likes the
girl. If the girl feels the same way she will
give the boy a decorated egg on Easter
Sunday. On leap years the roles are
reversed. This practice is celebrated by
singles and married couples. 



About now the local bakeries are starting
to sell these special pretzels. Here in
Luxembourg you can always tell what holiday
it is by what is available in the bakery! I’m
going to share with you an easy way to make
pastry pretzels of your own so you too can
participate in Bretzelsonndeg. Your kids
will love giving pretzels to their
friends and teachers.

Bretzelsonndeg Pretzels

Supplies:

• 1 refrigerated pack of “pate feuilletee” aka puff pastry
• Cinnamon sugar, chocolate flakes, sliced almonds, Nutella
• Icing (see below)
• Melted butter and pastry brush
• Baking pan, lined with parchment paper
• Sharp knife
• Cello bags and tags (optional)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 Celsius) and prepare your baking sheet.

Step 2: Open your pack of pastry and cut it into ½ - ¾ inch strips

Step 3: Fold the strips in half lengthwise. Before doing this, you can sprinkle the strip with cinnamon sugar or spread it with Nutella.

Step 4: Twist your folded strip. This was the hardest step for my kids; I ended up doing the twisting.

Step 5: Shape your twisted strips into pretzels on the baking sheet.

Step 6: Brush them lightly with melted butter. Bake for 10 minutes. Watch them closely!! Once they start to brown they go quickly.

Step 7: Cool and then spread icing over the top. I made a simple icing using ½ cup of powdered sugar and 1-2 tsps of milk. I found that it’s easier for kids to “frost” using the back of a spoon. Decorate with cinnamon sugar, chocolate flakes or sliced almonds.

Step 8: Let the decorations solidify to the pretzel and then insert into cello (or waxed paper, brown paper) bags, add a tag (click here) and tie.

Happy Bretzelsonndeg! 
Addi from Luxembourg." 
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Luxembourg is brought to you by guest
blogger, Katy from Sycamore Stirrings.
Katy is an American currently living in
Luxembourg with her husband and
daughters. She has been giving us peeks
into the differences between the U.S. and
Luxembourg in her blog posts titled
"Little Differences" that I find fascinating
and I think you will too!

If you have any questions about Luxembourg
please leave them in the comments by the
end of the week and Katy will answer them!
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Links of interest:

Luxembourg at Wikipedia
Luxembourg at the World Factbook
Luxembourg maps to print