I must admit right away that in this recipe I was influenced by some articles I read suggesting rolling out the brioche dough thinly so that the mannele brioche bonhomme of Saint Nicholas wouldn’t become chubby … Okay okay I rolled them out thin, but now they’re too thin, the height of 0.6 inches isn’t enough and it doesn’t give satisfaction…
Honestly, I thought for a moment not to put them on the blog, to throw all the photos in the trash and to eat them and be done with it!
However, more than the food, more than the brioche man, more than the manneles or manelas what I liked was the whole story that links this sweet treat to Saint Nicholas and …
Saint Nicholas was a saint very accustomed to miracles and these Alsatian treats (in dialect it means little man) recall one of the most famous.
One night, three children got lost and sought shelter in a butcher’s house, but he, not very kind, killed them, chopped them up, and ended up preserving them in brine.
Seven years later, Saint Nicholas happened to stop by that shop by pure chance and asked to taste what he thought was premium meat, rather bacon (I swear… I cringe 🤢), the terrified butcher fled, and the Saint miraculously brought the three children back to life!
Tradition has it that on December 6th, the day of Saint Nicholas, he visits schools, a Saint Nicholas brings tangerines and mannalas and is accompanied by a whipping father (père fouettard) who, all dressed in black and with a canvas sack over his shoulder, represents that monster who would take the naughty children away by putting them in the sack!!
It’s customary on this day to start the pre-Christmas period by preparing these little brioches (make them thicker, eh) to enjoy with a nice cup of hot steaming chocolate.
MANNELE BRIOCHE BONHOMME OF SAINT NICHOLAS
The kitchen of ASI
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: French
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
- 4 3/4 cups flour
- 7/8 cup milk
- 7 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 0.5 oz fresh yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- as needed chocolate chips
- 1 egg (for glazing)
- as needed milk (for glazing)
Preparation of the Mannele Brioche Bonhomme of Saint Nicholas Recipe
To prepare the mannele brioche bonhomme of Saint Nicholas I first let the butter soften out of the refrigerator.
I put the milk in a container and dissolve the fresh yeast.
In a bowl, I mix the flour with the sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and vanilla extract.
Then I add the milk and yeast mix and start kneading until I get a smooth and homogeneous dough.
I cover everything with a clean cloth and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in size.
Now I divide the risen dough into pieces of about 60 g (2 oz), shape them into cylinders, and pinch them at the top to form the head, then I make two oblique cuts below the head to create the arms… Then I make a central vertical cut at the bottom to form the legs of the bonhomme.
This is what the book says; I used snowman cookie cutters and tried to adjust the little snowman as best as I could, but as always, I’m not too satisfied…
On a baking sheet previously lined with parchment paper, I place the mannele of Saint Nicholas well spaced from each other and let them rise again until they double in size.
I finish decorating them by adding chocolate chips (or raisins or pine nuts) to decorate them, then I brush them with beaten egg and milk and bake at 356°F for about 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy your mannele of Saint Nicholas!
Annalisa
SOURCE “Santa pietanza” by Lydia Capasso and Giovanna Esposito Publisher Guido Tommasi €16
