Do you have a sweet tooth? Is it hard to just pass by anything sweet? Then Turkey is the right place for you. A true variety of sweets awaits you here, often too sweet for the European tongue.
Nevertheless, you should definitely try Kadayif and Baklava, and don't leave Turkey without having tried lokum. Sweet chicken breast pudding and pumpkin are also specialties here. Find our selection of the 15 most amazing desserts and sweets to try in Turkey below.
Afiyet olsun !
1. Baklava
Baklava is a sweet treat made of puff pastry covered in honey or sugar syrup and filled with walnuts and pistachios. Many layers of a paper-thin dough are placed on top of each other on a baking sheet, with a thin layer of the filling spread between each layer. After baking in the oven, baklava is topped with a syrup of made of sugar water.
Very sweet...
2. Aşure
Aşure is a popular sweet dish. It is prepared from white beans, chickpeas, wheat, rice, raisins, chopped walnuts, and other ingredients. The ingredients are all cooked separately and then mixed with sugar. It's decorated with pomegranate seeds. The dessert is classified as relatively sweet for European taste.
Legend has it that Noah prepared this dessert for the first time after the great flood with the last remnants of his supplies and ate it with the survivors on the ark as a festival meal.
3. Lokum - Turkish Delight
Although its called Turkish honey, this treat has nothing to do with honey. It is made from sugar, water, and starch. Chopped nuts, almonds, or pistachios are mixed into the jelly and various flavors, such as rose water, cherry, or almond are then added.
In the times of the sultans, this sweet was reserved for the upper class.
Lokum with rose and almond flavors are very popular .
Just try it! Surely the seller will let you taste it before you make your final decision.
4. Tavuk Göğüsü
You wouldn't believe it, but this Turkish dessert is actually made from chicken breast, which is cooked for several hours and then cut into its fibers. It is blended with rice flour, cornstarch, milk, and powdered sugar and cooked again. To serve, the dessert is sprinkled with cinnamon.
One of the most extraordinary desserts, but very popular ..
5. Lokma
Lokma are dough balls made from yeast dough with cinnamon. Before serving, they are doused with honey or sugar syrup. Also, a very popular street food.
6. Tulumba
A sprinkled dough made of flour, eggs, butter, and semolina is deep fried in hot fat and then dunked in sugar syrup. It is served with ice cream or kaymak. A real calorie bomb....
7. Revani
Revani is a semolina cake made with olive oil and oranges and it's covered with sugar syrup or honey before serving. The syrup makes the cake very juicy. It is spiced with grated orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves.
8. Kadayıf
"Angel hair" is the name of the fine threads of dough needed to prepare Kadayıf. They are filled with chopped almonds or walnuts and then baked. Spices are added such as cinnamon and cloves. After the pastry has cooled, it is moistened with lemon-sugar syrup. Turkish ice cream goes well with it.
9. Künefe
Künefe is prepared from the same dough threads as Kadayıf, then filled with cheese and baked in the oven. Then the dish is doused with lemon-sugar syrup. It is served with ice cream again.
10. Rose Jam
In the interior of the country, about 100 kilometers north of Antalya, roses are grown in the heights of the Taurus Mountains. The Damascus rose grows in almost endless fields. Rose oil, one of the most important basic materials in exclusive perfumes, comes from these blooms.
From the rest of the blossoms rose water is made, which is then used in the production of rose jam. Turkish jams, by the way, are much sweeter than German...
11. Maraş Dondurması
Traditionally dressed street vendors sell ice cream in their mobile carts. Unlike the ice creams known in Europe, Maraş-Dondurma has a chewy, sticky consistency, which is mainly due to the addition of salep. Salep comes from the tubers of some species of terrestrial orchids. Another benefit of adding salep is that the ice cream melts more slowly.
The sellers continuously stir the ice cream, which allows it to maintain its elastic consistency.
When handing the ice cream to customers, the salesmen often joke around, pulling the ice cream away again, showing customers how elastic the ice cream is and how far it can be stretched. Ice cream and entertainment included....
12. Fırın Sütlaç
Fırın Sütlaç is rice pudding baked in the oven. Baking turns the rice pudding brown on top and makes its taste reminiscent of caramel. Of course, Turkish rice pudding is much sweeter than the German one. Fırın Sütlaç can be found on almost all menus.
13. Kestane Şekeri
Sweet chestnuts are peeled, soaked in sugar syrup and cooked until they are done. Originally it's a specialty from Bursa, but now it's popular all over Turkey.
14. Kabak Tatlısı
Pumpkin as a dessert? In Turkey, this is possible. Pumpkin pieces are soaked overnight in sugar, which causes water to escape. Then the fruits are cooked in their own juice until they are done. The dish is sprinkled with chopped walnuts or pistachios. In some places, tahini, a sesame paste, is also added.
An interesting taste experience...
15. Ayva Tatlısı
Ayva are quinces. They are first precooked and then further cooked with sugar syrup. The sugar makes the fruit shine beautifully. To serve, the quince is sprinkled with kaymak, or Turkish cream, and chopped walnuts or pistachios.
If you like Turkish Food, also read our article about the Turkish kitchen and local food in Turkey.