Food & Beverage

The World of Turkish Desserts

Turkish desserts are a whole culture on their own. Usually served after meals as snacks there are also different families of desserts that are enjoyed at different times throughout the day. Some desserts are associated with special occasions, holidays or celebrations and only prepared at those times.

Baked pastries are group of "snacks" served after the meal along with Turkish Coffee. One group is prepared with paper thin pastry sheets, brushed with butter and folded, layered, rolled after being filled with ground pistachios, walnuts or heavy cream then baked. Another group is prepared with cookie dough with different flours; dried first-fried later or dried first-baked later or just baked. After the cooking process, a special syrup is slowly poured on top (ağda). The way the ingredients are prepared, syrup, size of the grains, flakiness of the final product differ from region to region. The most known desserts in this family are : baklava, sobiyet, kadayif, sekerpare, sarma, tulumba, revani and kemalpasa.

Turkish delight is a snack which is not associated with a meal at all. It is sometimes served as appetizer or welcome serving to guests. It is also customary to serve some cologne & napkins afterwards, since Turkish delight is eaten in very small quantities and with fingers most of the time. Common ingredients are starch, sugar and water. It is quite soft to the touch and can be flavored with rose, citrus fruits; can be double / triple roasted; can contain pistachio, walnut, hazelnut; and can be topped with powdered sugar or coconut flakes. Another variation of Turkish delight is cezerye; which is prepared with carrot.

Muhallebi family is the dairy group. These are among the rare guilt-free desserts - sometimes referred to as puddings - made with starch and rice flour. Originally they do not contain egg or butter, but some variations do. They can be flavored with gum, citrus fruits, various nuts and even strands of chick-breast. Most known desserts in this family are : Kazandibi, gullac, muhallebi, puddings.

Welcome to the vast world of Turkish desserts.