Mailänderli

Mailänderli in Basel also Myyläänli or Gaatoodemyylängli ( gâteaux de Milan "cake from Milan") are a Christmas cake made of flour, sugar and butter in a 2: 1: 1 with a slight lemon flavor. They are cut out of dough a few millimeters thick and, with the exception of an egg yolk spread, generally not decorated.

The pastry is a typical German-Swiss and southern German Christmas pastry and is largely unknown under this name in other countries. However, there are the same and many similar butter cookies in other countries (e.g. Northern Germany, Austria, Sweden), but often without the lemon flavor typical of Mailänderli and possibly with other spices (cinnamon, cardamom, almonds, nuts, etc.).

history

The pastries can be traced back to the 18th century. In a Basel recipe book from around 1780, both the recipe and the name of the pastry (“Cateau de Milan”) are first attested. The name can be loosely related to northern Italy, where there are similar butter biscuits. In Milan, for example, they know a biscuit specialty made from shortcrust pastry that is similar to the Milanese, but unlike the Milanese, it also uses candied fruit as an ingredient, and the pastry is decorated with almonds.

variants

Almond rings

Mailänderli dough is formed into rings, coated with egg yolk or jelly, sprinkled with chopped almonds mixed with a little sugar and cinnamon and baked like Milanese (medium heat, 10 min.)

Filled tea cookies

From the thinly rolled out Milanese batter, round biscuits are cut out, baked on low heat and covered on one side with a little jam while still warm , two biscuits pressed onto one another and turned in powdered sugar .

Web links

Mailänderli / Milanais / Milanesini in the database of Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
Hans-Peter Schifferle, Christoph Landolt : Wienachtsguetsli - die Klassiker , in: Wortgeschichte from December 15, 2016, ed. from the editors of the Swiss Idiotikon .

literature

Margrit Landolt, Berta Stambach: Cooking teaching aids. 10th, unchanged edition. Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich, Zürich 1969, p. 125.

Individual evidence

↑ Swiss Idioticon . Volume 3. Huber, Frauenfeld 1895, column 1303, article Mailänder Bed.4b .
^ Rudolf Suter : Basel German Dictionary (= grammars and dictionaries for Swiss German in a generally understandable representation. 5). 3. Edition. Christoph Merian, Basel 2006, ISBN 3-85616-305-0 , p. 88.
↑ New and useful cookery book […] compiled by an experienced and practiced cook. Scholer, Basel, around 1780 [Basel University Library estimate], p. 69: “Cateau de Milan. A pound of sugar, a pound of sweet anken [= butter], 2nd pound of flour, 8th eyer, but only from 2nd the white, probably knocked together, choked [= knitted], chosen with a stick, a paper with sweet Anken smeared on, the Daig printed out with tumbled [= tinny] forms, placed on the paper, painted with the yellow of the Ey, put on an iron sheet and baked in a Bach stove. " The statement in the “Culinary Heritage of Switzerland” collection that the name was first mentioned in the third edition of a Bern cookbook from 1840 is incorrect.

[1] Swiss Idioticon . Volume 3. Huber, Frauenfeld 1895, column 1303, article Mailänder Bed.4b .

[2] Rudolf Suter : Basel German Dictionary (= grammars and dictionaries for Swiss German in a generally understandable representation. 5). 3. Edition. Christoph Merian, Basel 2006, ISBN 3-85616-305-0 , p. 88.

[3] New and useful cookery book […] compiled by an experienced and practiced cook. Scholer, Basel, around 1780 [Basel University Library estimate], p. 69: “Cateau de Milan. A pound of sugar, a pound of sweet anken [= butter], 2nd pound of flour, 8th eyer, but only from 2nd the white, probably knocked together, choked [= knitted], chosen with a stick, a paper with sweet Anken smeared on, the Daig printed out with tumbled [= tinny] forms, placed on the paper, painted with the yellow of the Ey, put on an iron sheet and baked in a Bach stove. " The statement in the “Culinary Heritage of Switzerland” collection that the name was first mentioned in the third edition of a Bern cookbook from 1840 is incorrect.