"Gingerman Breads"

One of the boys favorite things when we head into the Hill Country is to stop at Naegelin's, the German Bakery in New Braunfels that is the oldest in Texas (since 1868--Germans settled this small town in the Hill Country in the early 1800's). They make a lot of really good traditional German pastries, including apple strudel, german sweet pretzels (not what you think), and of course, gingerbread men. These aren't the crispy kind you and I are used to. These are thick, chewy, and heavy on the molasses. They really don't seem like a cookie at all, but more like bread. In fact, when Joey first ate one and was trying to remember what it was called, he fumbled for a minute then said, "Dad, can I have another gingerman bread?" Of course, that is now what I call them.

Each time we go into the bakery, they run to the display and yell, "we FOUND them, hurry Daddy, let's get one and BITE OFF HIS LEGS so he can't run away!" As soon as we get to the car, we have to get the gingerbread men (or gingerman breads) out of the bag to bite off their legs. It's funny and we play along, but I can't help thinking that it might be a ploy to get a quick bite.


On Saturday we went to the Hill Country and, of course, we stopped by Naegelin's for the 'gingerman breads.' As soon as we bought them, they immediately bit the legs off their cookies and as we were putting them away for later, Charles said, "Dad, maybe we should also bite off their arms, because if we don't, they might do a handstand run and get away." We all laughed (but they didn't trick me). When we got home they finished them off and we snapped a few pictures.