We went out for cake and coffee with friends last weekend, and one of our friends, B—,  ordered an Olgabretzel, “Olga Pretzel”.I was a bit confused, as I hadn’t heard that term before.  Here’s a photo of the Olgabretzel that B— got:

Olgabretzel

B— quite graciously waited for me to take the photo before he started eating it, and he also gave us a taste so that I could report on it for the blog. Vielen Dank, B—!

Anyway, as you may have guessed, the Olgabretzel is a sweet pretzel, not a savory one. The “salt” pieces that are sprinkled on top of the pretzel shape are small pieces of  icing. When we saw it, Chris and I realized that we had seen variations on this theme on occasion in bakeries before, although often topped with sliced almonds, not sugar.

Unlike other sweet pretzels we’ve tried — refer to my Summerbretzel and  Berlinerbretzel posts for more info — the Olgapretzel is more of a pastry than pretzel. The dough isn’t soft like a pretzel, but rather flaky, hard and crunchy. I found that surprising, as I expected the texture to be more like a pretzel. The dark part is flavored with chocolate; I’ve read that other versions put an almond-flavored strip in there instead, but perhaps those are the ones topped with almonds.

So why is a German dessert called an Olgabretzel? Well, it’s all because of a woman named Olga Nikolajewna Romanowa, a royal Russian princess, born 1822. [Note: one of the daughters of the last czar of Russia had the same name, but she was born in 1895, and today’s food story has nothing to do with her.]

Anyway, there was a tradition back in the early 1800s of the royal Russian and royal German families intermarrying.  Russian Princess Olga’s first German suitor came calling in 1843:

… When Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel visited Russia in 1843, Nicholas and Alexandra were hopeful that he might consider marrying the already 21-year-old Olga. He was introduced to her when he came to Peterhof. Olga seemed to have liked Frederick and enjoyed his company and conversation. However, the next day, Frederick met the 18 year-old Alexandra, and to everyone’s surprise, fell in love with the younger princess. Realizing that the couple were very much in love with each other, Olga graciously ‘stepped aside’ in favor of her sister.  — from http://arrayedingold.blogspot.de/2011/07/grand-duchess-olga-nikolaievna-of.html

I guess this kind of problem, where the proposed bridegroom fell for the younger sister instead of the older sister who was first suggested, happened more often than you might think. Before learning of Olga’s tale, I had only been familiar with that particular plot twist in the story of the Austrian Empress Elizabeth (“Sissi”) and her sister, Helene.  Ah well. I like the part in the story where Olga graciously steps aside, but I wonder if she really had much say in the matter. Helene certainly didn’t when the Emperor said he’d marry only her sister,  Sissi.

In any case,  a few years later another German prince turned up for Olga: Charles of Württemberg.  Olga and Charles got married, and settled down in the Württemberg family castle in Stuttgart.  When Charles eventually ascended the throne, Olga became Queen of Württemberg.  She was extremely popular with the people for her social programs, championing education for girls and medical services for veterans and the handicapped, among other causes.  Many things were named after her, not just the hospitals and clinics in Stuttgart for which she was patron; there was even a mountain in Australia that was “discovered” by a German explorer, and was for a time named “Mt. Olga.”

And, of course, sometime during Olga’s lifetime a German baker invented a particular sweet confection in her honor.  Although you might find it elsewhere in Germany by the more generic name Russienpretzel, in Stuttgart, as well as in other cities historically part of the old Württemberg kingdom, you’ll still find it called the Olgabretzel.