Sweets across the Turkic world

What these sweets share is that they are made for gatherings, whether a holiday, a celebration or a change of season. Simple ingredients such as flour, honey, sugar, milk, butter, nuts and dried fruit become special dishes through time and patience. The origins of many are not clearly documented, and for some, several regions claim the credit.

In Azerbaijan, shekerbura is a crescent-shaped pastry filled with ground nuts and sugar, served at Novruz. In Uzbekistan, sumalak is made from sprouted wheat and flour, cooked slowly for a long time. In Türkiye, baklava is built from thin layers of dough, while asure combines wheat, legumes and dried fruit. In Tatarstan, chak-chak is fried dough strips bound with honey, and gubadia is a layered pie filled with rice, raisins and often dried curd cheese. In Sakha (Yakutia), kuerchekh is a cold cream whipped with berries, and salamat is a warm flour porridge.

These sweets are rarely eaten alone. They arrive with tea at a full table: asure is passed to neighbours, chak-chak is offered to guests, and baklava comes out on a tray to be cut and shared. Whichever recipe you try, a sweet is a good reason to sit down together.