When travel writer Megan DeMatteo visited Aachen for her Historic Highlights tour, she uncovered a delicious wartime survival story at fifth-generation bakery Nobis Printen. Her exploration of this western German heritage city revealed how Napoleon’s honey blockade during the early 1800s accidentally created Germany’s most indestructible cookie – one she successfully tested by mailing from New York to Tennessee without a single crumble. Fun fact: Aachener Printen, despite being classified as gingerbread, contains absolutely no ginger – a discovery that surprises most first-time visitors to this historic spa city.
Megan’s Aachen Discoveries:
- Nobis Printen bakery preserving a 160-year tradition
- Aachener Printen’s wartime reinvention with beet sugar syrup
- Ginger-free “gingerbread” with cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and orange zest
- Cookies that stay fresh for months (perfect for international shipping!)
- Traditional molds print saints and soldiers on cookies
- Varieties from classic sugar-iced to chocolate-hazelnut and marzipan-filled
- Giant Printen gingerbread men at Aachen’s Christmas market
- Generation-old storage tip: half an apple keeps cookies soft
The travel writer’s visit to Nobis Printen in Aachen’s historic center brought the city’s resilient spirit to life through cookies. DeMatteo interviewed Claudia Pütz, who has been working there for 15 years, and who explained to her American visitor how the Napoleonic Wars forced innovation: “For a long time, there was honey. But then came the krieg [war], and then there was nothing.” That crisis transformed Aachen’s traditional Lebkuchen into something uniquely local – using regional beet sugar syrup instead of imported honey created a denser, more caramelized cookie with legendary durability.
DeMatteo’s taste test revealed Printen’s distinctive spice blend – no ginger, but rather a carefully balanced blend of cinnamon sweetness, deep cloves, and coriander, all brightened with orange zest. The cookies earn their name from traditional molds that print religious and military figures onto their surface, connecting modern visitors to centuries of Aachen’s baking heritage.
DeMatteo concludes that visiting Nobis Printen offers more than just cookies – it’s a chance to taste living history in one of Germany’s most storied cities, where Charlemagne once held court and where giant Printen figures now welcome visitors to the annual Christmas market.
For Megan DeMatteo’s complete Aachen exploration including more Historic Highlights discoveries, visit UnimaginablyGoodTravel on yahoo.com