Quince Dessert (Ayva Tatlısı)

It's quince season, and I love that you can find them everywhere in Northern California. Quince is simply unknown to many Americans but for those of us from Europe/MidEast it's an indispensable part of Fall. Quince is an apple-pear like fruit with no sex appeal on paper; it is firm, really really firm (for example, you cannot just take a bite; you need a knife), and tart with a slight hint of sweetness! I like it raw the best, but it is also phenomenal in this highly classic dessert recipe. Quince dessert, my favorite, is a traditional Turkish dessert that uses a sugar based syrup. You can find them in most restaurants and patisseries in fall and winter all around Turkey.

Although ingredients and techniques-wise this is a simple recipe, it took me more than half a decade to post it because it is a hard one to perfect. You want the color red, without food coloring though, and the flesh to remain firm, after hours of cooking required for the color, yet not mushy.

Here it is:

for 6 people

3 quinces, pick ones that are yellow with minimal green spots., halved and cored
2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups sugar (~1/2 - 3/4 cups sugar per quince, depending how sweet you want it) and yes, that's a lot of sugar but this is a syrup based dessert so...moving on
one red apple peel, any kind
Juice of one lemon
1 1/2 cup water (1/2 cup per quince)
4-5 whole cloves

-Fill a bowl with enough water to cover quinces when halved. Add lemon juice.
-Peel and core the quinces and save the peel and seeds for coloring. Put halved quinces in lemony water to prevent browning.
-When all are halved. Place them in a pot, cored part up, and add water, quince and apple skins, quince seeds. They will give the quince a nice red color. Add cloves as well.
-On medium to high heat boil them for 10-15 minutes.
-Then add sugar and cook for two hours on low heat. After an hour and a half flip the quinces over, cored part facing down.
-Place quinces in a serving plate. Toss aside peels, seeds, and cloves with a slotted spoon and pour the syrup on quinces. Set aside to cool down.
-Serve with kaymak, qaymak, clotted cream or, in the absence of all these, oh well, whipped cream, topped with chopped walnuts or pistachios.

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Baklava

Of all the sweets that come from Turkey baklava is probably the most famous and delicious. Although there is no consensus on the history of the dessert, it is believed that baklava descended from an Assyrian dessert consisting of dried fruit in between two layers of pastry. There are numerous debates about the "original origin" of baklava, most famously between Speros Vryonis, professor of Greek and Byzantine history, and Charles Perry, food historian and journalist. While Vryonis claims the dessert has Byzantine roots, Perry insists on its Turkish/Turkic origin.

Regardless of its origin, baklava, a closer version to the one we know today (with multiple layers of thin pastry), came from Damascus to the Turkish city of Antep (Gaziantep), and from Antep to the rest of Anatolia. By the end of its journey it came to perfection at the Ottoman palace kitchens. It became so prominent in the palace tradition that by the end of 17th century a ceremony called "baklava alayi (parade)," during which janissaries walked to the palace on the 15th day of Ramadan to fetch trays of baklava--one for every ten soldiers--  prepared by the palace cooks, was already established.

Today baklava is still a specialty and sold at stores that specializes only on baklava. In these baklava stores one can find different versions of layered thin pastry desserts with different ingredients and different cuts. Turkish baklava is made by very thin layers of pastry made from wheat starch and a sugary syrup that does not contain honey or spices.

Antep being the city that spread baklava to the rest of Turkey preserves its prestige over the dessert. Almost all baklava store owners/chefs in Istanbul or elsewhere claim to be from Antep, the baklava and pistachio capital of Turkey.

Among the Turks the biggest debate over baklava seems to be the stuffing: some like walnut and some pistachio, and it can be a heated one. However, the hazelnut baklava from the Black Sea region is also noteworthy.

Being totally on the walnut camp, I will give you an easy-to-make walnut baklava recipe that you can make with store bought phyllo dough.























1 box store bought thin phllyo dough (every brand has different number of sheets in box. As long as you have ~20 sheets, it fine)
2 1/3 sticks of butter
3 cups of walnut, chopped (not coarse and not minced)

for the syrup
3 cups of water
3 cups of sugar (if you like it really sweet go for 3 and a half cup)
2 tbsp lemon juice (to prevent crystallization of sugar)





























-Thaw the phyllo dough following the instructions on the package.
-Grease the baklava tray. The tray can be slightly smaller than phyllo sheets.
-Melt the butter.
-Place a layer of phyllo sheet at the bottom and drizzle 1 tbsp butter on top.
-Spread the half of the phyllo sheets on the tray, buttering them one by one.
-Sprinkle the ground walnuts on top of the middle layer.
-Cover the walnuts with the other half of phyllo sheets, again buttering every single one.
-When the sheets are finished, with the help of a knife push the edges inwards onto the try.

Now the hardest part: cutting the baklava. Baklava has to be cut before it is baked. The most traditional cut is the diamond cut. But you can go for triangles or simple squares.  
-For diamond cut. First find the sharpest knife in your kitchen and cut baklava into 4 or 5 equal pieces lengthwise. Then cut it diagonally at 1 inch intervals.
-Drizzle the remaining butter on top.
-Bake baklava in a preheated oven at 350F until golden brown.

-For the syrup, mix sugar and water and cook stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. First bring to a boil then let it simmer on low for ~20-25 minutes.
-Add lemon juice 10 minutes before you take it off the stove.
-Turn it off, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Baklava has to be cold when you pour the syrup. So, you can bake it before hand or start making the syrup as you take baklava of the oven. And on the other hand the syrup should neither be boiling hot nor cold. It will be at a good temperature to pour after 10-15 minutes off the stove.

-Pour the syrup on top and let it soak. Wait at least 1 but better 2 hours to cool and absorb the syrup.

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Semolina Sponge Cake (Revani)

If you are a libertine, don’t turn from the cup of pure wine

If you are wise, take your glass in the direction of Galata

…

Pious one, should you see those Frankish (European) boys but once

You would never cast an eye on the houris in paradise

…

Everywhere is filled with paradisiacal boys and girls, Revani,

Who enters it looks no more to the highest heaven

(from The Age of Beloveds by Walter Andrews and Mehmet Kalpakli) 

These lines which depict the life in Istanbul of 16^th century are from a poem by Revani, an Ottoman poet, an infamous libertine who lived in late 15^th and early 16^th centuries. And revani the dessert is said to be named after Revani the poet. The association is not rooted in Revani’s notorious ways in entertainment or financial matters (he never gets any positive remarks on his character in biographies), but in his famous unique and novel work İşretname (Book of Wassail) which deals with anything related to Ottoman carousals: the wine, best seasons for drinking wine, wine glasses, flagons, young men serving wine, and, of course, food. E.J.W. Gibb in his colossal work on Ottoman poetry defines Revani as a “thorough-going hedonist” but not a “mystic.” In “Book of Wassail” he proves Gibb right. Revani gives a long list of delicasies in his lines and with vivid metaphors likens them to serpents (sausages), pearl (rice), or blond beauty (saffron) (see Gibb for more info on “Book of Wassail”).

Although he wrote couplet after couplet praising pleasures of food, I don’t know why particularly revani, a sponge cake, a semolina sponge cake to be accurate, soaked in syrup is named after Revani. 

for the cake

2/3 cup semolina

1/3 cup flour (white)

5 eggs, separated 

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp or less orange zest (optional)

for the syrup

2 1/2 cup water

2 1/2 cup sugar 

2 tbsp lemon juice 

1 tbsp lemon zest (optional)

for the top

coconut flakes or

ground pistachio 

-Beat egg yolk with sugar until creamy. 

-Add orange zest, semolina, and flour gradually as your mixing them all with a whisker or a mixer.

-In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they turn into firm foam and add them into the cake. 

-Grease a deep cake pan 9-10 inch in diameter.

-Pour the batter and bake in a preheated oven at 350F for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown. Check with a knife or a toothpick to make sure the cake is done. They should come out clean.

-Meanwhile, mix sugar, water, and lemon juice + zest in a pot and bring to a boil. Then simmer on medium for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

-When revani is still in the cake pan and warm, not hot but warm, cut in into diamond shape slices or in squares. 

-Pour the lukewarm syrup on top with a scoop slowly, waiting the cake to soak it in.

-Serve diamond with coconut flakes or ground pistachio on top. Revani is also good with vanilla ice cream or clotted cream on the side.       

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Baked Halva with Carrots (Güveçte Havuçlu Helva)

A couple of years ago there were quite a number of fisherman boats tied at the Yenikoy coast in Istanbul serving as seafood restaurants. Although those floating restaurants had limited menus, they served the freshest and by far the cheapest seafood, the best salads (especially Tuana), and surprisingly simple yet delicious desserts (Takanik was the #1 when it came to desserts). All those boat restaurants moved tot the land after the ban; they're all still in Yenikoy, but in buildings in stead of boats. In the past years I tried different types of halva based desserts on these boats and loved them all. Normally I don't eat halva and this should give you an idea about how good their halva desserts are. I had purchased a box of Koska pistachio halva months ago from the Turkish market in Atlanta, for whom or what I have no idea. When I saw it in the pantry I decided to make one of the floating restaurants' halva desserts. The dessert was great, but it definitely lacked the preceding fish platter served on the boats. Although it is hard to find horse mackerels, halva is highly common here in the States in Middle Eastern markets or online.  

for two people

two 1" halva slices--use one slice per person (I used pistachio halva, but you can use plain, coco, or any kind)

1 carrot, grated

1 tsp lemon juice

cinnamon

2 tbsp ground pistachio or walnut 

-In an oven safe small bowl (a small souffle bowl) place a slice of halva. Make it as thick or thin as you wish.

-Squeeze a couple of drops of lemon juice on top: approximately 1/2 tsp.

-Cover halva with grated carrot; not too much, just enough to cover halva ~approximately 1/2 cup

-Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

-Cover the bowl with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes in preheated oven at 380F.

-Serve hot with ground walnut or pistachio on top.

-If you don't have a oven proof bowl, you can layer everything on a square aluminum foil, wrap it by bringing the corners together, and bake like that.    

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Turkish Zuppa Inglese (Supangle)

The chocolate pudding that we call in Turkey "supangle," or "sup" in short, comes from French soupe Anglaise, which comes from Italian zuppa Inglese, which probably is derived from British trifle. Despite the inherited name, the dessert itself bears no resemblance to either zuppa Inglese or trifle, other than the first layer of cake. Therefore, I will label this rich, absolutely delicious chocolate pudding that you can find in every single patisserie in Turkey as traditional Turkish.



























makes 8 medium size bowls or glasses
4 cups of milk
7/8 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup dark chocolate or chocolate chips
left over cake or lady fingers or tea, cocoa, etc. biscuits or cookies


























-Mix cold milk, sugar, flour, and cocoa powder, and start cooking stirring constantly.
-Once it starts boiling, take it off the stove.
-Add butter and chocolate. Stir well.
-Cover the bottom of bowls or glasses with which you will serve the pudding with a layer of cake, cookie, or biscuit, and wet them with a splash of milk.
-Pour the pudding into the bowls.
-Decorate the tops with ground pistachio, shredded coconut, ground walnuts or almonds.
-Serve cold.

The popular way to have a "sup" in Turkey is with a scoop of ice cream on top.

note: See the cracks on the surface of the pudding in the pictures? That's because I forgot what a patisserie chef told me once and pour the pudding into the bowls when it was still hot. However, if you let the pudding cool down in the pot, stirring it frequently, and then pour it into the bowls, there would not be any cracks on the surface.

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Milky Semolina Dessert with Cocoa Powder (Sütlü Kakaolu İrmik Tatlısı)

Although the traditional milky semolina dessert is on the heavy side with butter and eggs, the contemporary take on the traditional recipe is much lighter, excluding both butter and eggs. The recipe for the milky semolina dessert remains almost the same, yet the dessert is served in different ways (in casserole dishes, bowls, or glasses), with various sauces (chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, caramel, etc.).

8 small wine glasses
5 cups of milk (whole, 2%, or fat free)
1 cup semolina
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
shredded coconut, ground or crushed walnuts, pistachios, orhazelnuts

-Put milk, semolina, sugar, and vanilla extract in a pot and start cooking on medium until it thickens. Taste it at this point, and if it is not sweet enough for you add more sugar and mix well.
-Pour half of it into glasses or bowls half way through.
-Add cocoa powder to the remaining mix in the pot and stir well.
-Add the cocoa semolina on top of glasses and bowls.
-Sprinkle coconut, walnut, pistachio, or hazelnut on top.
-Let them cool down at room temperature and then refrigerate.
-Serve them cold, with a scoop of ice cream on top if you wish.

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Rice Pudding with Gum Mastic (Damla Sakızlı Sütlaç)

When it comes to Turkish milky desserts, a considerable number of people in Turkey prefer mastic gum flavor. In Turkey mastic gum is used in milky desserts, ice cream (it's the best), and, naturally, chewing gum. Originally liquid, mastic gum is sold as hard small transculent lumps and melted in hot milk while making dessert. It can also be ground with mortar and pestle. This fragrant resin is cultivated from mastic trees that are native throughout the Mediterranean; however, the most famous ones come from Greek island of Chios. In the States, you can easily find Chios mastic gum, "tears of Chios" online, even through Amazon. I usually bring back a big bag of mastic gum when I visit Turkey.

Rice pudding is a traditional recipe that has different versions such as regular, baked, and with mastic gum.



























4 cups of milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup long grain rice
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 pieces of mastic gum

-Put rice and 2 cups of water in pot and cook until rice is soft. Drain.
-Put 3 cups of milk, rice, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil.
-Add sugar and keep cooking until rice gets really soft stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
-Mix well corn starch and remaining 1 cup of milk, and slowly stir in to the pudding along with mastic gum lumps. Cook until pudding thickens.
-Pour pudding into individual bowls or cups. (If you want baked pudding, make sure the bowls are oven safe.) If you do not want to bake your pudding, wait until pudding cools down and then put the bowls in the refrigerator.
-If you want baked pudding, place the bowls in a deep oven tray / dish. Fill the tray with water half way through the bowls.
-Broil them until golden brown on top. Let them cool and refrigerate.

Rice pudding is usually served with ground cinnamon on top. Try a scoop or two of ice cream on top on hot summer days.

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Pear Marmalade (Armut Marmelatı)

The other day my mom sounded highly enthusiastic on the phone about a new quince marmalade recipe. she insisted I tried it. I didn't want to say that I cannot find quince, one of my favorite winter fruits, here and crush her passion. I said sure, of course I'll try. After I hung up, I decided to apply the recipe to pears that were sitting on the counter for a long time. The result was a light fragrant marmalade perfect with cream cheesed bagels.

I had 5 pears and used all. You can use as many as you want. 5 pears made 24oz/1.5lb/~700gr marmalade.

5 grated pears made ~5 cups. For 5 cups of grated pears I used 2 1/2 cups of sugar. So, the ratio of sugar to pear is 1 to 2.


























5 d'anjou pears, grated (use the bigger hole), seeds taken out, not
peeled
2 1/2 - 3 cups of sugar
juice of 1 orange
juice of half lemon
3-4 cloves

-Put grated pear, juice of orange, and cloves in a pot on medium heat. Pear will first release juice. Cook off juice. (~1 hour)
-Stir in sugar and lemon juice and cook until it thickens.
-Pour in dry jars and let cool. Wait until it cools down to put the lid.

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Instant Coffee and Raisin Cake (Neskafeli ve Üzümlü Kek)

Although Turks are known to be a coffee --especially Turkish coffee--
drinking nation, we are actually obsessed with tea. Besides, it wouldn't be wrong to say that since late 80s Turks have become more of a Nescafé drinking nation. Instant coffee is cheap, easy to make, and tasteless compared to Turkish coffee. As a matter of fact Nescafé is consumed so widely that Turkish coffee became "the other" in its own land. 15-20 years ago, before globalization poked our lives, "coffee" meant Turkish coffee in Turkey. These days you have to specifically ask for "Turkish" coffee (Türk kahvesi) at a coffee house, restaurant, etc., because now "coffee" usually means Nescafé.

When my family was visiting, my aunt insisted on having instant coffee. After she left, the coffee container remained untouched for weeks until I decided to transform it into a new identity: cake mix. Apparently instant coffee can be flavorsome in baking.

1 1/2 stick butter or margarine, at room temperature
powder sugar, a little less than 1 cup
2 - 2 1/4 cups of flour
3 eggs
4 tbsp milk
8 tbsp instant coffee
1 cup of raisins
2 tsp baking powder


-Beat well powder sugar and eggs with a mixer until it becomes creamy (approximately 4-5 minutes)
-Add butter, milk, and instant coffee. Keep mixing.
-Add flour and baking powder. Mix all of them.
-Finally add raisins and stir with a wooden spoon.
-Pour cake mix in a greased cake pan.
-Bake at a preheated oven at 350-370F for 35-40 minutes.
-When it's done, wait for 5 minutes and then take the cake out.
-Once it cools down, sprinkle powder sugar on top.

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Frozen Panda Cake (Panda Pasta)

One of my oldest friends, Sena, taught this recipe to me approximately 15 years ago. It was a big hit then. We would make Panda cake every week. Especially that coco sauce; we didn't seem to get enough of it. Although this is really a pudding, since you need to cut it and eat it with a fork we call it a cake. I wanted to have Panda cake again for a long time, but didn't ask Sena to e-mail the recipe, because I thought it wouldn't be as good without mastic gum. But it turned out just fine with vanilla, too. Thanks, Sena!

200 gr. butter
1 - 1.5 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1 cup flour
1 liter milk
1 tsp vanilla or 1-2 piece mastic gum

for the sauce
50 gr. butter
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened coco powder
4 tsbp milk
1 egg


























-Heat butter in a pan. Add flour and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon on medium heat constantly approximately for 5-7 minutes.
-Add milk. Stir constantly until it thickens up.
-Add vanilla or mastic gum if you can find it. (Read Haalo's post to learn more about mastic gum)
-Pour cold water in a big and shallow pot. Place the pudding pot in the big shallow one so that the pudding pot is surrounded by cold water. Beat pudding with electric mixer on medium to high for 15 minutes. This will air up pudding and give it a nice texture.
-Wet a 2 or 3 Quart glass dish like Pyrex. Pour pudding into the glass dish. Cover with a clear wrap and put in freezer.
-For the sauce, melt butter. In a mixing bowl beat butter, egg, sugar, coco powder, and milk. Add milk one tbsp at a time to lighten the sauce up.
-Spread the coco sauce on pudding which should be slightly firm by now. Put it back in the freezer.
-Take Panda cake out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving to give it a little time to warm up and be ready to be cut. Put the rest back into freezer.
-You can serve it with ice cream.

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Cornelian Cherry Marmalade (Kızılcık Marmelatı)

There are two Farmers markets in my hometown; one is on Tuesdays, the big one is on Fridays. We got these cornelian cherries from the Tuesday market so that my mom could make my favorite marmalade. My mom's cornalian cherry marmalade is the best I know, so here's the recipe--and this one is really Turkish.


























1 ½ kilo cornelian cherry (after you pit them, you’ll have approximately one kilo)

2 kilo sugar (approximately 8 cups) 1 1

2 cups water

1/4 tsp citric acid

-Wash cornelian cherries and boil them in a big pot with 2 cups of water for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft.

-Once they cool down, smash them in a colander in small patches. You’ll have cornelian cherry puree in the end.

-Mix 8 cups of white sugar and the puree in a big pot, and cook on medium heat. Once it starts boiling, check the time; cornelian cherry marmalade will be ready in 6 to 7 minutes. Do not let it boil more than 7 minutes.

-When it starts boiling, there will be pink foam on top. Remove the foam with a spoon.

-A minute before you turn it off, put ¼ citric acid (it preserves that magnificent color and prevents crystallizing)

Since cornelian cherry is one of those fruits that has a jelly-like structure, you need to put marmalade into jars when it’s still hot

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Lemon Cheesecake (Limonlu Peykek)

As much as I love cheesecakes, I cannot make a cheesecake crust. I tried many times, but for some reason it doesn't work. Yet it didn't stop me from making cheesecakes; I buy the crust.

This is a very light and refreshing cheesecake recipe, perfect for summer time.

9 inch cheesecake crust

16 oz (app. 225 gr.) cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest (app. zest of 1 lemon)
1/4 cup lemon juice

-Leave cream cheese out in room temperature for at least an hour.
-Mix cream cheese with a mixer for at least 2 minutes until softened.
-Add sugar, mix for another minute.
-Add eggs one at a time.
-Then add lemon zest and juice, mix for another minute.
-Pour the mix into the crust.
-Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.
-Let it cool completely on a wire rack. Cover an chill for at least 8 hours.
-Serve with Nolan's delicious chocolate sauce.

This recipe is for YE#24 Recipes with Lemon hosted at Limon Cicegi.

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Lemon Jelly (Limonlu Pelte)

We're going through really hot and humid days here which made me remember a dessert mom used to make. When I came back home from a hot day on the beach, she would serve me a cold slice of this lemon jelly which was soooo refreshing after hours of burning with salt under the sun.

I called her to get the recipe. I had missed it a lot; it was already gone before I thought of taking a picture.

You can try this with lime, too. And if you cannot find petit beurres/tea biscuits, you can use lady fingers or a different kind of biscuits.

1 pack of tea biscuits, petit beurre (Le petit beurre is a thin, small, rectangle biscuit first made in France by the founder of LU company. They're great with tea: you have to dip it very fast, though! You can find them in the international food sections of big stores or in international markets)
2 cups of water
2 cups of milk
4 tsp corn starch
2 cups of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
juice of 2 lemons
zest of 1 lemon
finely shredded coconut

-Put water, milk, and starch in a pot and mix well.
-Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.
-Stir on medium until the mixture thickens.
-Wet the bottom of a square or a rectangle dish with the boiling hot jelly.
-Place a layer of biscuits on top in an order. Cover biscuits with lemon jelly and the place another layer of biscuits.
-Repeat this layering until you run out of biscuits and jelly.
-Refrigerate for couple of hours, overnight if possible. The colder the better!
-Cut the frozen jelly in squares, rectangles, or triangles.
-Sprinkle a generous amount of shredded coconut on top before you
serve.

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Bride Dessert (Gelin Tatlısı)

This recipe is again from my mom. She made this dessert for a tea party. Although I don't like desserts with syrup that much, I must admit this one was awesome.

for syrup
3 1/2 cup sugar
3 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice

for cookies
3 cup flour
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup butter (almost melted)
1/2 luke warm milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup crushed walnut
1 tsp cinnamon

















-Boil sugar and water. 5 minutes after it starts boiling, pour lemon juice and turn it off. Let it cool.
-In a bowl mix well butter, oil, baking powder, and milk.
-Add sifted flour and knead well.
-Make walnut size pieces from the dough. In your palm, first round each piece and then flatten them.
-For stuffing mix walnuts and cinnamon. Place 1 or 1/2 tsp of the stuffing in the middle of each piece. Fold it from both sides on top.
-Place them on a greased oven dish and bake at 380-390F until golden brown.
-As soon as you take them out of the oven, pour the cooled down syrup and let it soak.
-Once the little pieces soak the syrup, you can place them on a serving plate.

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Damascus Dessert (Şam Tatlısı)

This is a common dessert in Turkey, but I don't know why it is called "Damascus" dessert. My one guess is that sometimes instead of shredded coconut, it's decorated with crushed pistachios. And in Turkish pistachio is called either "Damascus nut" or "Antep nut" (a southeastern city in Turkey that borders Syria). The recipe is from my mom and is one of her favorites because it requires neither eggs nor oil. Since it's not very heavy you can eat more!

for the syrup
3 1/2 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

for the cake
1 cup semolina
1 cup bleached flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla

-Mix sugar, water, and lemon juice in a pot and boil for 1-15 minutes. Turn it off and let it cool down.
-In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the cake. Pour them in a greased oven dish (We used a 13 1/2 X 10 1/2 one, but you can definitely use a smaller dish for a thicker cake).
-Bake it at 350-370F for 20-25 minutes until it gets brownish.
-Cut the cake in rectangles, squares, or diamonds.
-Pour the syrup that has cooled down on the hot cake. Let it soak the syrup in the cooling oven.
-You can sprinkle shredded coconut or pistachio, or put an almond on each piece.
-Serve it cold.

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Cocoa Pudding (Kakaolu Muhallebi)

This pudding is what I like to have after a long day at the beach. It's also really refreshing when it's crazy hot outside.

makes 4-5 bowls

3 cups of milk (whole or 2%)
3 tbsp corn starch
5-6 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you want your pudding)
3 tbsp coco

-Mix all the ingredients well in a pot and cook on medium until the mixture thickens.
-Pour into smallish bowls. First let it cool on the counter then put them in the refrigerator.
-Sprinkle shredded coconut on top.
-Serve with ice-cream if you like.

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Mushroom Cookies (Mantar Kurabiye)

This is a long lost recipe for me. Although I used to love these mushroom cookies, I completely forgot about them until the other day when I was thinking about what to make for my friends who'd come over for tea. Now, having a tea party is a very important social activity. You have to serve something with Turkish tea. It might be a cake, some sort of phyllo dough pastry (puff pastry or phyllo dough), cookies, potato salad, some kind of poğaça, or tabbouleh depending on the season and what you have in the pantry. Even if your guest is an unexpected one that catches you totally unprepared, there are vital things one can do: send the youngest kid in the household (if there's none in your house, find one from the neighborhood) to the bakery to fetch simit (sesame seed fastfood bread) or to the closest patisserie for goodies. But if it's a scheduled tea party, then you have all the time to contemplate on what to do. The social etiquette is to serve two different kinds: sweet and savory. I found the recipe at www.kekevi.com

Mushroom cookie, which, bytheway, has nothing to do with fungus other than its shape, is a perfect tea-time cookie.

2 eggs

2 sticks butter
1 cup powder sugar
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cup flour

coco or nuts

-Mix well butter and sugar.
-Add eggs and beat well.
-Add in the rest of the ingredients except for coco. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
-Roll a piece of dough into a size of a golf ball (almost).
-Put 1-2 tsp coco on a flat plate. Find a small cap; I used the cap of carton orange juice container. Beer cap would work, too. Wet it a little. Press it first on coco and then on the ball-shape cookie dough. You may need to repeat this with every cookie.
-If you're feeling lazy or you don't want a mushroom-shape cookie, just put a hazelnut, almond, or pistachio on your cookies.
-Bake at preheated 370F for 10-12 minutes or until they have tiny cracks on them. Do not bake them until they turn yellow or brown! Or you'll lose that melt-in-the-mouth texture.

This is the best cookie ever!

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Salame di Cioccolata (Mozaik Pasta)

I am not sure where this absolutely delicious and extremely-easy-to-make mosaic cake recipe comes from; I guess it's originally Italian, but yet I don't have any source to support my idea. (After reading Ilva's comment, I did a research and became sure that Mosaic Cake is Italian; I even changed the post title to original Italian name.) Mosaic cake was very popular in Turkey 10 to 15 years ago. Since then, it has been forgotten, though it's still my #1 cake (#2: plain cheesecake, #3: carrot cake). My mom never made this cake, because the recipe requires raw eggs; she thought it wasn't healthy. I had to search for this recipe and I found it from my friend Özgür. Since he's a food engineer, I assume we're all safe!

1 pack of le petit beurre. [Le petit beurre is a thin, small, rectangle biscuit first made in France by the founder of LU company. They're great with tea: you have to dip it very fast, though! You can find them in the international food sections of big stores or in international markets.]

8-10 tbsp butter (1 stick) or if you feel generous, you can make it
1 1/2 sticks.
3 tbsp unsweetened coco
2 eggs
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup crushed walnuts or almonds or pistachios or all



























-Melt butter and let it cool down. In a bowl mix well sugar, eggs, butter, and coco.
-Crumble biscuits into this mixture. Mix all and pour this mixture on a plastic wrap. Roll it as a big candy as in the picture above. Put it in freezer for an hour. Cake will be firmer in an hour so you can give it whatever shape you want: round, triangle, or square.
-Mosaic cake is served cold so keep it in the freezer.
-Serve it on its own or with ice cream.

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Wheat Flour Halva (Un Helvası)

There are three different types of halva in Turkey: tahini halva, which is known simply as halva here in the Sates, wheat flour halva, and semolina halva. Tahini halva is usually store-bought; actually I've never heard anyone who made tahini halva. As a matter of fact, I never liked tahini halva which my family highly enjoyed as main dessert after fish dinners. Semolina and wheat flour, on the other hand, are always home-made for funerals or religious days. Moms would make big batches of either semolina or wheat flour halva and send a halva plate with kids to everyone in the neighborhood. Other than funerals and religious days, semolina or wheat flour halva is perfect for midnight sugar-craze. Between two, I've always liked wheat flour better than semolina. It's easy to make wheat flour halva, but it requires arm strength since you need to stir constantly. Here's the recipe for a small batch.

3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups of water
2 tbsp pine nuts

-Start making roux with flour, butter, oil, and pine nuts on low heat. Important: Stir constantly until it turns into a brownish color. Change arms or pass the job to someone else, but stir constantly; you don't want flour balls in your halva. And don't forget; it may take a while.
-In a pot boil sugar and water.
-Once the flour mixture is brownish, pour syrup, one scoop at a time, and stir constantly until the whole syrup is soaked. It will get harder to stir. Turn it off, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
-With two spoons give halva some sort of spoon-shape and serve!

You can experiment with this recipe by either replacing water with milk or using 1 cup water and 1 cup milk.

Adventure for chocolate and/or coco lovers: add 1 tbsp coco to roux before you pour in the syrup or serve flour halva with chocolate syrup.

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Turkish Rice Pudding-Baked (Fırın Sütlaç)

Sütlaç is a light dessert originated in Ottoman cuisine. The rumor goes that it was flavored with rose water in palace kitchens, but in my kitchen I skipped that ingredient. If you want to try the original taste, add 2-3 tsp rose water to milk.

1 lt (32 oz.) milk
1/2 cup white rice
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup corn flour or corn starch

-Wash the rice and boil it with 2 cups of water until water is soaked
-Put rice, milk, and sugar in a pot and stir on low. Keep stirring for 20-30 minutes more after it starts boiling.
-Mix corn starch with a little bit of water until the mixture is smooth. Then, add this mixture to the pot. Stir for 4-5 minutes.
-Now you need to decide whether you want to have regular sütlaç or baked one. If you want regular rice pudding, pour the pudding into bowls and serve cold with cinnamon sprinkled on top. However, if you want baked rice pudding, pick oven safe bowls, put put pudding in them, and then broil them until the top is brown, dark brown. Chill and serve.
-Another way to make baked rice pudding is to mix 2 tbsp of pudding (after you turn off the heat stove) with one egg yolk, and spread this mix lightly and evenly on the pudding after pouring them in bowls. If you broil sütlaç with the eggy mixture on top, you'll have a more flavorsome pudding.

See also Rice Pudding with Gum Mastic

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