Alsace is known for its pastries. Kugelhopf is a well-known cake similar in shape to the American Bundt cake and has raisins with powdered sugar on top. You can buy traditional ceramic Kugelhopf pans in any tourist shop with recipes to make at home. During Easter, small cakes molding from lamb-shaped pans are made. They are served with a ribbon around their necks and topped generously with powdered sugar. Macarons are also found in specialty sweet shops and also in the frozen isle of the supermarket try the Monoprix in the center of the town, which can be eaten straight from the box frozen. Note that they are not like American macaroons coconut haystacks but are the French version composed of two small, pastel colored cookies made from almond flour which has a melt-in-your-mouth quality with an icing in between. In sweet shop you will also find Meringues, made from whipped egg whites and sugar, dyed in pastel colours and then baked. Make sure to try the tarte aux poires, which is a pear tart with an eggy custard filling with baked pears.
Tarte flambée Flammekueche in Alsatian, or Flammkuchen in German is the Alsatian equivalent of the Pizza, though extremely different. Traditionally, it is made of a thin layer of dough, covered with crème fraîche rich sour cream, cheese, onions, and bacon lardons in French. It is baked very quickly in an extremely hot oven so that it gets crispy. Legend has it that the dish was a solution to the extra scraps of dough left over from the bakers. Other regional specialties include the Black Forest cake with raspberry, cream and sponge and quiche Lorraine.
Alsace is also famous for their Bretzels pretzels in English. They are fresh baked and soft with generous amounts of salt. Sometimes you can find them with melted cheese on top accompanied by smoked salmon or ham.
Alsace is also famous for their Sauerkraut or choucroute in French. This is fermented cabbage served hot with boiled potatoes and a variety of meats. Choucroute aux Poissons with fish is becoming more widespread.
