A cookie is a baked or cooked food that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories: bakers' confections and sugar confections. The occupation of confectioner encompasses the categories of cooking performed by both the French patissier and the confiseur.
Pastry is a dough of flour, water and shortening that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as bakers' confectionery. The word "pastries" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called pastries. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches, croissants, and pasties.
A doughnut or donut is a type of leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty vendors. 'Doughnut' is the traditional spelling, whilst 'donut' is the simplified version. The two terms are often used interchangeably in the English language.
A croissant is a buttery, flaky, viennoiserie pastry of Austrian origin, but mostly associated with France. Croissants are named for its historical crescent shape and, like other viennoiserie, are made of a layered yeast-leavened dough. The dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a thin sheet, in a technique called laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry.
A Danish pastry, sometimes shortened to just Danish, is a multilayered, laminated sweet pastry in the viennoiserie tradition. The concept was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers, and has since developed into a Danish specialty. Like other viennoiserie pastries, such as croissants, it is a variant of puff pastry made of laminated yeast-leavened dough that creates a layered texture.
Austrian cuisine is a style of cuisine native to Austria and composed of influences from Central Europe and throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austrian cuisine is most often associated with Viennese cuisine, but there are significant regional variations.
Pampushka is a small savory or sweet yeast-raised bun or doughnut typical for Ukrainian cuisine.
Kifli, kiflice, kifle or kipfel is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent before baking.
Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries and nations. Many of the cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated within the Czech lands. Contemporary Czech cuisine is more meat-based than in previous periods; the current abundance of farmable meat has enriched its presence in regional cuisine. Traditionally, meat has been reserved for once-weekly consumption, typically on weekends. The body of Czech meals typically consists of two or more courses; the first course is traditionally soup, the second course is the main dish, and the third course can include supplementary courses, such as dessert or compote. In the Czech cuisine, thick soups and many kinds of sauces, both based on stewed or cooked vegetables and meats, often with cream, as well as baked meats with natural sauces (gravies), are popular dishes usually accompanied with beer, especially Pilsner, that Czechs consume the most in the world. Czech cuisine is also very strong in sweet main courses and desserts, a unique feature in European cuisines.
Kołacz meaning cake, wheel cake, or coffee cake is a traditional Polish pastry, originally a wedding cake dating to the start of the 13th century, that has made its way into American homes around the Christmas and Easter holidays. The pastry is a light and flaky dough filled with a variety of sweet and savory fillings such as apricot, raspberry, prune, sweet cheese, poppy seed or even a nut mixture. Variants of the traditional Slavic pastry have found entrance into many Central and Eastern European cuisines, e.g. the Czech leven yeast dough called kolache (koláč). When the dough and filling mixture is rolled it is also known as a makowiec, makownik, poteca, strucla z makiem, strucla orzechowa, strucla z migdałami. In Hungarian this is called Diós-mákos Beigli or Bejgli. Some sprinkle the roll with poppy seeds or powdered sugar on top and can be baked in a circular pan or long-ways in a jelly pan like a log.
A Franzbrötchen is a small, sweet pastry baked with butter and cinnamon, similar to a cinnamon roll. Sometimes other ingredients are used as well, such as chocolate or raisins. It is a type of pastry commonly found in northern Germany, especially Hamburg, and it is usually served for breakfast, but is also enjoyed along with coffee and cake. As its name indicates, the Franzbrötchen was probably inspired by French pastries. Originally, it could be found only in the region of Hamburg, but now Franzbrötchen are also sold in Bremen, Berlin, and other German cities.
A sweet roll or sweet bun refers to any of a number of sweet, baked, yeast-leavened breakfast or dessert foods. They may contain spices, nuts, candied fruits, etc., and are often glazed or topped with icing. Compared to regular bread dough, sweet roll dough generally has higher levels of sugar, fat, eggs, and yeast. They are often round, and are small enough to comprise a single serving. These differ from pastries, which are made from a paste-like batter; from cakes, which are typically unleavened or chemically leavened; and from doughnuts, which are deep fried.
In comparison with the more French-influenced Baden cuisine, Swabian cuisine is rather simple and rustic. It is native to Swabia, which comprises great parts of Württemberg and the Bavarian part of Swabia, as well as the Allgäu which has parts lying in Austria.
