Cougnou

Bread baked during Christmas time

Media: Cougnou

The cougnou or bread of Jesus is a bread baked during Christmas time and is typical of the southern Low Countries.

It has various names according to the location:

coquille in Romance Flanders (Lille and Tournai)
cougnolle or similar in ancient Hainaut (cognolle in Mons)
cougnou in Walloon-speaking places like Charleroi, Andenne, Namur, Dinant but also in Ardennes, in the Gaume, and in Brussels
quéniolle in Cambraisis
volaeren, folards or folarts in West Flemish-speaking French Flanders like Dunkirk

The bread of Jesus is a sweet bread formed like a baby Jesus. It is made with flour, eggs, milk, yeast, raisins and sugar. Usually, it is given to children on Christmas and St. Martin's Day and usually enjoyed with a cup of hot chocolate. This bread seems to have originated in ancient Hainaut but it is now spread throughout the southern Low Countries. It is usually decorated with terracotta circles called ronds in Hainaut and Romance Flanders, or with incisions in Cambraisis. Elsewhere the bread is decorated with flowers, sugar, raisins, or chocolate chips.^[1]

References

^ Jean-Dorize, Tatiana (6 December 2023). "Connaissez-vous les folards ? Voici la recette de la viennoiserie typique de la Saint-Nicolas" [Have you heard of folards? Here's a recipe for the typical St. Nicholas pastries]. Journal des femmes (in French). Retrieved 6 December 2023.

External links

Florence Fadier-Rotsaert. "Histoire de rond et de cougnou (History of the bread of Jesus)" (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-05-27. Retrieved 2007-04-04.