Mannele

Sweet

Mannele

The mannele is a brioche shaped like a little man, baked for Saint Nicholas’ Day in Alsace, Moselle and Luxembourg, with eyes made of raisins or chocolate. Christmas markets sell it in the first fortnight of December, around Saint Nicholas’ Day.

Where to find a mannele outside Strasbourg and Colmar

Strasbourg and Colmar sell it, and our article covers them. The small Alsatian markets do too: Haguenau, Turckheim and Bergheim offer it under the name manala, Barr and Guebwiller under that of mannele. In Lorraine, Nancy sells the mannele, the Saint Nicholas brioche, and Sarreguemines the Saint Nicholas mannala.

In Luxembourg, the little man is called Boxemännchen. It is eaten at breakfast on 6 December, the day of the Kleeschen, the Luxembourg Saint Nicholas, and the capital’s Christmas market sells it.

The story of the little man, the quarrel between manala and mannele and the recipe are in our article Manala: the little brioche man of Saint Nicholas’ Day.