One of the best parts about writing a blog is that I can use it as an excuse for all the “research” that we need to do, now that we’re living in a yet another far-off land.

For example, it was purely for research purposes that Chris and I tried a Hefenikolaus today. We had to try it, or else how could I report on what it was, right?

Hefenikolaus bread

Hefenikolaus turns out to be a yeast bread topped with pieces of sugar, including the big white blog of frosting near the top, that I guess is supposed to be his beard. Looks more like a scarf to me, though.

In fact, to me,  this whole bread-creation doesn’t look anything like Nicholaus: it’s not in the shape of the  bishop figure that’s the most common representation here, nor in the shape of the Santa Claus image that is popular in North America (and which you also see around here).

But when in Rome … or Tübingen … , as they say.  So, Chris bought a Hefenikolaus so we could try it.  Interestingly, although marketed as a dessert, it’s not terribly sweet, beyond the frosting and sugar decoration bits. The bread itself wasn’t sweet at all.  I’d have to say that it wasn’t my favorite of the seasonal dessert offerings around here. Although, if you approach it as a bread that happens to have sugar on top, then it’s not bad.

So, to recap, it was a dessert that wasn’t sweet, named after Nikolaus but not really looking like him. Hmm. I guess people will buy anything, as long as you bill it as a traditional, seasonal dessert.

Well, we bought it, didn’t we? 😉