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Hanım göbeği is a traditional sweet pastry originating from Turkey. It consists of choux pastry balls that are pressed in the middle to create a dimple, then deep-fried in hot oil and soaked in sugar syrup. The name of this sweet treat means lady's navel, hence the indentation in the middle of the pastry.
The dough is made with a combination of flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and salt, while the syrup is made with a mixture of sugar, water, and lemon juice. The dough should be fried in oil over medium heat, and the pastry is then placed into cold syrup.
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Kandil simidi is a variety of Turkish simit pastry. It is traditionally prepared and consumed only during the Kandil religious holiday. The dough is made with butter, oil, yogurt, eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Once it has been shaped into rings, the dough is coated in sesame seeds, then baked until golden brown.
Over the course of five holy nights, kandil simidi is baked in many Turkish households and bakeries, and it is traditionally offered to friends and relatives.
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Dilber dudağı is a traditional dessert consisting of layered phyllo pastry filled with nuts and soaked in honey. It's prepared with a combination of milk, hazelnuts and walnuts, eggs, butter, oil, lemon juice, flour, sugar, and baking powder. The dough is usually shaped into half-moons, then cooked until golden brown and drizzled with sugar syrup or honey.
The name of the dish means a beautiful woman's lips, referring to its unique shape and visual appearance.
MOST ICONIC Dilber dudağı
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Sour cherry baklava is a popular Turkish dish – its refreshing and light fruit filling delivers just enough tartness to serve as a nice contrast to this sugar-laden dessert. Though the sourness of cherries goes hand in hand with the lemon-flavored syrup, vişneli baklava is also often enjoyed with a dollop of kaymak, Turkish clotted cream.
A lighter variation on the classic baklava, sütlü nuriye is made with a hazelnut filling and doused in a milk-based syrup. The origins of this baklava are somewhat vague—while the word sütlü translates to milky, Nuriye is a Turkish female name—so the only known thing is that the dessert had been created during the 1980s.
Back then, due to a major supply shortage, Turkish baklava makers thought of using milk to make a lighter syrup with half the amount of sugar, and the expensive pistachios used in classic baklava were replaced by hazelnuts.
MOST ICONIC Sütlü nuriye
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Nokul is a flavorful Turkish pastry that is visually reminiscent of a cinnamon roll. However, nokul consists of flour, salt, sugar, yeast, vegetable oil, and a flavorful poppy seed filling that is dispersed throughout the swirls. The pastry is baked until golden-brown in color, and it is then served hot, sometimes even as an appetizer instead of bread.
MOST ICONIC Nokul
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Called rurki or rurki z kremem in Poland, this sweet specialty is a type of cream roll consisting of thin pastry that’s typically filled with whipped cream or pastry cream. It is often dubbed torpedo dessert due to its characteristic shape, and apart from Poland, there’s also a long-standing tradition of preparing this dessert in other countries.
The origins of rurki are often associated with Türkiye and Bulgaria, where the dessert is known as torpil tatlısı and funiiki s krem, respectively. There are many variations of this sweet delicacy regarding the ingredients used for its preparation, the appearance, texture, and flavor of the rolls, and the type of cream used for filling the pastry.
Açma is a type of Turkish pastry characterized by its soft and flaky texture. The soft dough is traditionally twisted and rolled up into a bagel, which can be made in a sweet or savory version. It consists of flour, sugar, salt, yeast, yogurt, milk, eggs, butter, and olive oil.
This pastry can be easily found in most Turkish bakeries, where it is often sprinkled with sesame seeds.
MOST ICONIC Açma
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Güllaç is a unique Turkish dessert that is the most popular during Ramadan. It consists of numerous layers of thin, cornstarch pastry which is soaked in rosewater-infused milk and stuffed with walnuts, hazelnuts and/or almonds. Güllaç provides a healthier alternative to the sugar-laden lokma, baklava, and tulumba, which are mostly consumed after the fasting.
The dessert dates back to the 15th century, its name derived from the words güllü and aş, meaning rosy dish. Originally, it was a staple at the palace during Ramadan, where it was a staple of the royal menu, especially for the circumcision ceremonies.
MOST ICONIC Güllaç
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “9 Worst Rated Turkish Sweet Pastries” list until March 26, 2025, 5,299 ratings were recorded, of which 2,870 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.