Sweet Bretzel

Crumble the yeast into the milk, and stir to dissolve.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add the melted butter, yeasted milk and egg to the flour while kneading with the kneading attachment of a freestanding mixer. Knead the dough in the machine for 5 minutes (or for 10 minutes if kneading by hand).

Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: mix the almond butter or chocolate hazelnut spread with the cinnamon.

Turn the dough onto a flour-dusted work surface and roll into a rectangle approximately 60 x 40 cm. Cut the rectangle into 8 long strips. Spread the filling over four strips, then top each with another bare strip.

Carefully twist each piece of pastry so it looks like a curly straw, then twist into a bretzel shape and put onto four baking trays lined with baking paper. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Before they go in the oven, brush each bretzel with a bit of milk.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush the hot bretzels with quince jam and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, make the icing: mix the icing sugar with the milk to become a thick icing.

Drizzle each bretzel with icing and sprinkle with toasted almond flakes.

Leave to set for at least 2 hours before serving, so that the icing becomes firm.