Hessenbollen

At the Oberursel Christmas market I discovered something new today – Hessenbollen.

The stand selling them had a big vat of hot fat, and they were bobbing up and down in it, much like fresh doughnuts.

As it turns out, the mixture is not that much different, but rather than being formed and baked, the Hessenbollen are scooped out with an ice-cream scooped and then turned over and over again until they are golden brown.

hessenbollen.jpg

Once out of the fat, they are filled with a mixture of cream and apple juice (or even apple wine).

They taste very much like filled doughnuts, but there is much more filling that you would get in a Berliner. In fact, the doughnut-type casing is not as think as Berliners are, leaving much more space inside for the filling.

Christmas Markets – Weihnachtsmärkte

Frankfurt Christmas Market 2006

It’s Christmas Market time again in Germany. A list of the major Christmas Markets can be found in the AllThingsGerman.net Calender.

I hope to visit several of the markets and will report back here during December. If you can’t wait that long, why not listen to last year’s podcast?

Buß- und Bettag

Buß- und Bettag is a day celebrated in the Evangelical Church. It is a day on which to change one’s direction and to turn to God as the Church year comes to an end and we move towards Advent.

It was previously a national holiday, but this was changed from 1995 onwards to finance the new Pflegeversicherung. It remains a holiday in Saxony.

Many families start their Christmas preparations on this day, for example they bake the first Christmas biscuits.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download a transcript

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

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