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FijiFlavors · Aachen
Aachen spice cookie, sweetened with syrup and with small pieces of brown candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. It can be hard or soft, plain, with almonds or coated in chocolate. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.
Traditional sweet from Aachen, Renânia do Norte-Vestfália
Also known as: Printen, Printe, Oecher Printen
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Aachener Printen — Aachen, Germany
Aachener Printen are spice cookies from the city of Aachen, at Germany’s far west. The dough contains flour, brown sugar, syrup and a spice blend such as cinnamon, anise, clove, cardamom, coriander and allspice. The trademark feature is the small pieces of brown candi sugar that do not dissolve in the oven and crackle when you bite them. The exact spice mix is a bakery secret.
Printen vary widely. There are hard ones that require a firm bite and soft ones called Saftprinten. They can be rectangular and flat or shaped into figures. There are plain versions, ones with almonds, glazed ones and chocolate-covered varieties. The name Aachener Printen is a protected geographical indication of the European Union: it may only be used by bakeries and confectioneries in Aachen and certain neighbouring towns specified in the registration, such as Alsdorf, Baesweiler, Eschweiler, Stolberg, Würselen and Roetgen.
There are several origin stories. The consumer protection authority of North Rhine-Westphalia notes that Aachen received many pilgrims in the Middle Ages and that bakeries made a nutritious, long-lasting bread for them, seen as an ancestor of the Printen. Aachen tourism says bronze casters from Dinant, in present-day Belgium, brought a molded bread made in wooden forms more than 350 years ago, which started the tradition. Another commonly told story in the city says that during Napoleon’s trade blockade in the early 19th century, honey and cane sugar became scarce and bakers began using beet syrup, which changed the texture and flavour.
In Aachen, Printen are not only a Christmas sweet. They are sold year-round in shops devoted to them and appear in local cuisine: the Rhenish sauerbraten, marinated and roasted meat, is often served with a sauce thickened with Printen, and there is Printen ice cream in the city’s gelaterias.
Aachen , Renânia do Norte-Vestfália
Aachener Printen have a protected geographical indication and are made in Aachen and the neighbouring towns specified in the registration.
Wheat flour, brown sugar, syrup (beet or glucose), small pieces of brown candi sugar, honey in some varieties, and spices such as cinnamon, anise, clove, cardamom, coriander, allspice and ginger. Chocolate or icing coatings and almonds, depending on the variety.
In pieces, with coffee or tea. The hard ones require a firm bite; the soft ones (Saftprinten) are easier. In local cooking, they also appear in sauerbraten sauce and in ice cream.
Year-round in Aachen; most in demand during Advent and Christmas.
Your questions
Aachener Printen are sweetened primarily with syrup rather than honey, and contain small pieces of candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. They have their own recipe, spices and history tied to Aachen.
No. There are traditional hard Printen and soft ones called Saftprinten. They also vary by coating: plain, with almonds, iced or chocolate-covered.
The name is a protected geographical indication of the European Union and may only be used by bakeries and confectioneries in Aachen and some neighbouring towns specified in the registration.
Flavors of Germany
Fresh pasta dough filled with ground meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion and herbs, served in broth, browned with onions, or sliced and fried with egg. A Swabian dish with protected geographical indication since 2009, traditional at Easter week.
Layered chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirschwasser, the cherry brandy of the Black Forest, with cherries and whipped cream, topped with chocolate shavings. Black Forest tourism presents it as the region’s most famous sweet specialty.
Dark beer with a smoky flavor, made with malt dried in the smoke of beech firewood. Bamberg tourism presents it as part of the city’s identity, and the traditional preparation is listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Paste of camembert or brie cheese mashed with butter, paprika and, depending on the recipe, onion, cumin or beer; eaten with bread or a pretzel. A beer‑garden dish from Bavaria, with protected geographical indication since 2015.
Sausage sliced into rounds, topped with tomato sauce and curry powder, served with french fries or bread. The creation of the sauce is attributed to Herta Heuwer, who sold it in Berlin in 1949.
Kale slowly cooked with bacon, served with the smoked sausage Pinkel, smoked pork and potatoes. Bremen’s official portal presents it as the city’s best-known specialty, a winter dish of the Kohlfahrt.
Light, pale beer with top fermentation, served in a thin cylindrical 0.2‑liter glass by the breweries’ waiter, the Köbes. It is a protected geographical indication and may only be made in Cologne and in a few breweries in the region.
Sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and plenty of butter, coated with powdered sugar. Mentioned in Dresden since 1474, it has had protected geographical indication status since 2010.
Amber-colored beer, top-fermented with a pronounced bitterness, brewed in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns from a mid-19th-century recipe. The city’s tourism promotion presents it as the typical drink of the Altstadt.
Cold sauce of seven chopped fresh herbs with sour cream, served with hard‑boiled eggs and potatoes. The mixture of the seven herbs, grown largely in the Oberrad neighborhood, has protected geographical indication.
Sweet made from fermented, laminated dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled and pressed until it takes its characteristic flattened shape. Hamburg’s official portal presents it as a specialty of the city.
Dry, acidic apple wine, fully fermented, served in the Bembel ceramic jug and in the diamond-patterned glass called the Gerippte. It is a protected geographical indication of Hesse, and the apple wine culture of the state is listed in the German inventory of intangible heritage.
Little tart of shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan, almonds and a touch of jam or a cherry, with two strips of pastry crossed on top. It replaced the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
White veal sausage with bacon and parsley, warmed in hot water and served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, traditionally before midday. It is one of Munich’s best-known specialties.
Honey cake with spices, walnuts and almonds, often baked on a thin wafer and covered with chocolate or icing. It has a protected geographical indication since 1996 and may only be made within Nuremberg.
Pork sausages 7 to 9 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram and grilled, served by the dozen with sauerkraut or inside a roll. They have protected geographical indication since 2003 and may only be made in Nuremberg.
Ball of strips of shortcrust pastry, fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, resembling a snowball. Rothenburg ob der Tauber tourism presents it as the city’s regional specialty.
Cake baked in thin layers on a spit that turns in front of a fire; when sliced it shows rings like those of a tree trunk. Made in Salzwedel since the early 19th century, it has been a protected geographical indication since 2010.
Long, thin pork sausage, 15 to 20 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal and eaten in a small roll with mustard. The earliest known mention dates from 1404, and the name has protected geographical indication status since 2004.
