Bethmännchen Bethmännchen are a Christmas specialty of Frankfurt. They are small round cookies, made of Marzipan and egg whites, decorated with almond halves.
|
Photo: © HLPhoto - Fotolia.com
|
|
|
Region
Frankfurt
Main Ingredients
Marzipan, egg whites, powdered sugar. Egg yolk is used as an egg wash to promote browning when baked. Cookies are decorated with 3 almond halves.
History
The legend of the Bethmännchen is that they were invented in 1838 by the baker Jean Jacques Gautenier. He was head chef for the house of councilman Simon Moritz von Bethmann (who the cookie was named after). Originally, the cookie was decorated with 4 almond halves - each half representing one of the Bethmann sons (Moritz, Karl, Alexander and Heinrich). After Heinrich died in 1845, these cookies were only decorated with 3 almond halves.
|