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