Lemon Poppy Seed Pretzel Cookies

Buttery poppy seed cookies shaped like mini-pretzels and scented with vanilla and lemon.

Little Brezeli cookies, commonly found in Switzerland, are typically seasoned with vanilla (Vanillebrezeli). My recipe below for these irresistible cookies also calls for lemon zest, poppy seeds and a lemon juice icing.

Multiple approaches exist for shaping these cookies. You can use this recipe with step-by-step instructions to shape them by hand or simply use a pretzel cookie cutter.

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Vanillebrezeli in Switzerland

I remember seeing pretzel-shaped cookies in the window of a small Swiss French chocolate shop not along after I moved to Switzerland. From time to time, I still spot these cookies at bakeries throughout the country, but most often in German-speaking regions. Sometimes professional bakers form the pretzel cookies by hand. Or, they will use a cookie cutter. This is especially true for the ones sold in the supermarket.

One commercial version of Vanillebrezeli, known as “Mignons,” comes from the well-known Swiss cookie company, Kambly. Located in the Emmental region of Bern, in the small village of Trubschachen, this four-generation family company has been in business for over 100 years.

To learn more about its history, you can visit the Kambly Experience, next to the factory. This visitor center has over 100 varieties of sweet cookies, with a few savory options as well, such as flûtes and goldfish. I visited this culinary destination years ago and highly recommend it. Kambly cookies are deliciously butter-laden, taking advantage of the local dairy farms in the Emmental region.

The train stops directly in front of the Kambly factory in Trubschachen.

The German term Bretzeli, for these pretzel-shaped cookies, can also describe another traditional Swiss cookie found in the Emmental. These Bretzeli are pressed thinly with a mold. Also available from Kambly, they were one of the company’s first and most well-known products. In French-speaking Switzerland, these ultra thin cookies are known as bricelets (check out my recipe for Lime Zest Bricelets, the first recipe I published via my blog, Cuisine Helvetica).

“Brezeli Orange” cookies at the Kambly Experience store in Trubschachen, Switzerland.

Planning your visit: The Kambly Experience, Mühlestrasse 3555 Trubschachen, Switzerland, +41 34 495 02 22.

In addition to the Kambly Experience in the Emmental Valley, this company also has a Factory Store and Café in Lyss, Switzerland.

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How to Form the Pretzel Cookies:

Recipes I’ve seen for forming the handmade Brezeli (or bricelets in French) call for one of several methods.

1. Add the soft cookie dough to a piping bag. Then, you pipe a pretzel shape directly on a baking sheet.

2. Form thin cylinders out of dough, which then get shaped by hand into pretzels.

3. Use a pretzel-shaped cookie cutter.

For my recipe below, you can either use option #2 or #3.

From the book, Les meilleures recettes de cuisine et de pâtisserie by Henri-Paul Pellaprat, Éditions Patriotiques S.A., Morat (1955), p. 333.

I actually love using a piping bag, but for these cookies, I prefer making them by hand. If I’m in a hurry, I’ll use a cookie cutter, which makes the whole process a bit easier.

Happy Baking, and please leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions!

-Heddi

P.S. If you’re looking for some Swiss Easter recipes, here you go!

• Pain de Pâques, Neuchâtel’s Easter Bread

• Osterfladen, Swiss Easter tart with semolina

• Zopfhasen, Swiss bread bunnies

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Recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed Pretzel Cookies