An elaborate Chinese dessert, mooncake is quite a challenge even for the most experienced cooks. Its preparation requires time and patience, especially when it comes to assembling. The first step is to choose the filling, which can be sweet or savory.
The most popular fillings include lotus seed paste, various bean pastes, mixed nuts, sesame seed paste, while pork is a favorite in the savory department. Salted duck egg yolk is often incorporated into the middle of a mooncake and has a strong symbolic meaning.
TIME
- Preparation time: 40 min
- Cooking time: 2 h 35 min
- Total time: 63 h 55 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Crescents of pasta frolla flavored with either Marsala or white wine, filled with a mixture of sweetened, lemon-flavored, ricotta cheese bits of chocolate mixture, and dusted with powdered sugar or cinnamon — that in short, is cassatelle, sweets nowadays prepared in most of Sicily for Easter or carnevale, although they were originally conceived in Calatafimi Segesta, in the Trapani province.
The dough is made with flour, lard, sugar, often eggs or egg yolks, and flavored with either white wine or Marsala wine. The typical filling is similar to the one used for cannoli — sweetened sheep's ricotta, mixed with chocolate drops, and in some cases, candied pumpkin.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 1 h 20 min
One of the staples of British cuisine, the Cornish pasty is a savory pastry with a filling made from cubed beef, potato, rutabaga, and onion. While the recipe does not clearly state what type of pastry dough to use, shortcrust pastry is most commonly used.
The traditional recipe calls for the ingredients to be uncooked when the pasty is assembled. Round pieces of dough are folded over a dollop of filling and crimped together at the edges, resulting in an unmistakable final product in the shape of the letter D.
TIME
- Preparation time: 40 min
- Cooking time: 55 min
- Total time: 4 h 35 min
Crunchy, brittle and full of flavor — this, in a nutshell, is chiacchiere, an Italian deep-fried pastry most commonly prepared during carnival and other festive occasions, such as Christmas, New Year and Easter. Made with the simplest ingredients possible — flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and butter — these golden bites still manage to be packed with scents and flavors.
Mostly, this can be linked to the fact that the dough is enhanced with lemon or orange zest and liqueur such as the Italian grappa brandy, white wine, rum or Marsala wine. The preparation starts by mixing flour, eggs, egg yolks, butter, salt, sugar, lemon or orange zest, and liqueur, and kneading them into a firm dough.
TIME
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Cooking time: 15 min
- Total time: 30 min
A dough made with flour, butter, eggs, water, and sugar is stretched until paper-thin, then cut into squares and a dollop of the filling made with sugar syrup, ground almonds, and egg yolks is put onto each. The circles are then folded in half, resembling half-moons, and baked until golden.
While still hot, the pastries should be rolled in powdered sugar and can then be served. However, pastel de Santa Clara cookies can have other shapes as well. One popular way of making them is to put circles of dough in a cupcake thin, add the filling, and then top it with another piece of dough, or leave them open-faced.
TIME
- Preparation time: 40 min
- Cooking time: 40 min
- Total time: 1 h 20 min
Smelling of a mix of burnt sugar, rum, and vanilla, this dainty French pastry is characterized by a burnt-looking, caramelized shell that hides a custardy inside. The ingredients needed to make this Bourdoux specialty are what most people already have in their pantry — flour, eggs, milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, and rum.
The ingredients are mixed to make a batter reminiscent of a pancake batter and poured into molds, copper ones traditionally, and baked until deep, caramelized color. The canelés come in various sizes, the biggest one being 5 cm/2" in diameter and height and weighing 60g/2 oz.
TIME
- Preparation time: 25 min
- Cooking time: 55 min
- Total time: 13 h 20 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Deep fried in oil and dipped in sugar syrup, tulumba is a Turkish dessert which can, surprisingly, be crispy, soft, and juicy at the same time. Similar to Spanish churros and Italian zeppole or fritelle, this Ramadan specialty is prepared with dough very similar to choux pastry.
The process starts with making the syrup by melting sugar in water with some lemon juice. When the syrup starts turning dark, it is cooled down in a refrigerator until tulumba is finished. The dough for tulumba is made by mixing water, butter, sugar and salt in a pot until they start to boil, after which the flour, eggs, and semolina are stirred in.
TIME
- Preparation time: 30 min
- Cooking time: 25 min
- Total time: 55 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Fritule, sweet round fritters from Dalmatia are a festive treat, traditionally prepared for Christmas and carnival time. The typical fritters are made with a yeasted dough that can be enriched with eggs, although in the past, it was more commonly prepared with choux pastry that could also include potatoes.
However, today, it is frequently prepared with a looser dough that has yogurt and baking powder as ingredients instead of yeast. The key ingredient that needs to be included no matter what dough is used is alcohol, typically brandy — but rum or white wine are also an option — which helps the fritters not soak up as much oil during frying.
TIME
- Preparation time: 40 min
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 1 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
The Bakewell pudding consists of a puff pastry shell spread with strawberry jam and filled with a custard made with eggs, sugar, milk, and butter. However, the exact recipe is a guarded secret, known only to a few bakers in Bakewell. It is served warm, with custard, cream, or ice cream.
TIME
- Preparation time: 45 min
- Cooking time: 30 min
- Total time: 2 h
Adapted from the YouTube channel Scandinavian Today, this recipe gives instructions on how to make kringle with laminated dough and an almond filling.
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