We can say with confidence: everything that is prepared in Azerbaijan is incredibly tasty and satisfying. But I especially want to note the national sweets.
Azerbaijani sweets on the festive table
In Azerbaijani cuisine, there are more than 30 kinds of sweets. And these are only flour desserts, not counting caramel and sweets. In each region of the region, the hostesses have their own cooking characteristics, but still, the traditional Azerbaijani sweets - shekerbour, baklava, sheker-churek, shor gogal, kurabye, kyata, mutaki - are equally delicious for everyone.
Baklava is a traditional oriental sweet, the history of which dates back more than five hundred years. It is a multi-layer dessert, which is made from the thinnest layers of dough with the most delicate nut filling, soaked in a syrup based on rose water, sugar or honey.
Shakerbura - a yeast sweet cake. As a filling, different types of nuts are used: hazelnuts, walnuts and others. In shape, the pie resembles the moon, decorated with ears with a special tool.
Sheker-churek - friable cookies with the aroma of baked milk. It has a simple recipe for cooking and takes pride of place on the Azerbaijani table.
Kyata (Baku, Karabakh, etc.) - flour sweets with soft filling. At different nations, kyat is prepared according to its own recipe; it differs in shape and size.
Shor Gogal - a bright yellow round bun made of yeast dough with a filling inside. A traditional Azerbaijani delicacy is served with very sweet tea.
These are not all desserts that Azerbaijani cuisine boasts. Sweets, the recipes of which are presented below, are the main ones. In this country, they are an obligatory dish on every festive table.
Shekerbur's Sweet Pie
To prepare a yeast dough, dissolve yeast (10 g) in a glass of milk, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar. Beat with a fork 10 eggs, add 750 g sour cream, melt 700 g butter, cool and pour all the ingredients with milk into flour (700-800 g). Knead the dough that best fits in a warm place for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. To do this, grind 1 kg of nuts (preferably hazelnuts, previously peeled from the husk) in a blend. Then combine it with sugar and ground cardamom (5 grains). From the dough to form a round cake, 10 cm in diameter. Inside it, put the filling, figured to form the edges and cut out the patterns. Bake 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
The Azerbaijani sweets of Shakerbur are ready. You can pour tea and serve delicious cakes to the table.
Shor Gogal
The filling for this round pie may be salty. Moreover, such Azerbaijani delicacies are always served with sweet tea.
The preparation of yeast dough begins with dough. To do this, dissolve 30 g of live yeast in 500 ml of milk, and add a little flour. After 30 minutes, add 100 g butter, 6 eggs and a pinch of salt to a suitable dough. Knead the dough and let it come up in a warm place for 1 hour.
Prepare the filling from melted butter (50 g), flour and spices (on a teaspoon). Traditionally used cumin, anise, cinnamon, turmeric.
Divide the dough into 10-12 parts. Each of them is thinly rolled out, laid out alternately. Lubricate the layer generously with butter (in total about 1 kg will be needed). The resulting puff layer is cut into strips of 6 cm, and then into squares. Put the filling in the center, twist it with a spiral, snap the edges and form a round bun. Grease with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds.
Azerbaijani sweets Shor Gogal are baked for 40 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Bon Appetit!
Azerbaijan sweets: baklava recipes
There are several interesting recipes for self-cooking baklava at home. But its basis is puff pastry, nuts and honey. In traditional baklava, all layers are prepared with their own hands. But when cooking at home, sometimes ready-made puff pastry is used.
According to the traditional recipe, Azerbaijani sweets (baklava) are made from flour, milk, eggs, ghee and sour cream, dried yeast, sugar and spices. Such ingredients will be needed for the test. For the filling, it is necessary to prepare 500 g of walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and candied fruits, 1 kg of sugar and spices (cardamom, coriander). They impregnate baklava with ghee and syrup from water with honey (400 ml of water contains the same amount of honey).
First, knead a dough of 800 g of flour with the addition of 250 g of butter, 2 eggs and 300 ml of milk, yeast (1 tablespoon), cardamom (5 ground grains), sour cream and sugar (3 tablespoons each). It should turn out soft, elastic, not stick to your hands. Put the dough aside so that it fits for 1.5 hours.
Prepare the nuts. Dry the almonds and hazelnuts in the oven at a temperature of 100 degrees and peel them. Grind all nuts and candied fruits in a blender until fine crumbs. Combine with sugar and cardamom.
Divide the dough in half. Then the first is often divided into 17 more “koloboks”, and the second into 2 large balls. Cover the dough with a film so that it does not dry out. Now alternately form layers of baklava. Large balls are rolled out for the lower and upper part of the dessert, and inside there will be thin 17 layers, arranged with a nut-sugar filling.
Bake baklava at a temperature of 180 degrees for about an hour. After the first 15 minutes, cut the dried dough into rhombs and pour the dessert with melted butter (250 g). After 25 minutes, repeat the procedure. At the very end of cooking, pour the baklava with honey syrup. Bon Appetit!