Turkish cuisine is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe (Balkans), Central Europe, and Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm taking influences from and influencing Mesopotamian cuisine, Greek cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Egyptian cuisine, Balkan cuisine, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia, creating a vast array of specialities. Turkish cuisine also includes dishes invented in the Ottoman palace kitchen.
Edirne, formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated 7 km (4.3 mi) from the Greek and 20 km (12 mi) from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1369 to 1453, before Constantinople became its capital.
Cheesecake is a sweet dessert consisting of one or more layers. The main, and thickest, layer consists of a mixture of a soft, fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. If there is a bottom layer, it most often consists of a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked.
A macaroon is a small cake or biscuit, typically made from ground almonds, coconut or other nuts, with sugar and sometimes flavourings, food colouring, glacé cherries, jam or a chocolate coating; or a combination of these or other ingredients. Some recipes use sweetened condensed milk. Macaroons are sometimes baked on edible rice paper placed on a baking tray.
Almond paste is made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar in equal quantities, with small amounts of cooking oil, beaten eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added as a binder. It is similar to marzipan, but has a coarser texture. Almond paste is used as a filling in pastries, but it can also be found in chocolates. In commercially manufactured almond paste, ground apricot or peach kernels are sometimes added to keep the cost down.
Maamoul is a filled butter cookie made with semolina flour. The filling can be made with dried fruits like figs or dates or nuts such as pistachios or walnuts and occasionally almonds.
Acıbadem kurabiyesi is a traditional Turkish biscuit made of almonds, sugar and egg whites. The traditional recipes include a small amount of bitter almonds, which gives this cookie its name. However, because bitter almonds are not readily available, almond extract is typically used as a substitute. These biscuits are part of the stock-in trade of almost every bakery in Turkey, and are seldom made at home.
Rainbow cookie or rainbow cake usually refers to a three-layered almond-flavored Italian-American cookie, but can also refer to any of a number of rainbow-colored confections.
Jumbles are simple butter cookies made with a basic recipe of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. They can be flavored with vanilla, anise, or caraway seed used for flavoring, or other flavoring can be used like almond. They were formerly often made in the form of rings or rolls.
Baklava is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine.
Qurabiya, is a shortbread-type biscuit, usually made with ground almonds. Versions are found in most Arab and Ottoman cuisines, with various different forms and recipes. They are similar to polvorones from Andalusia.
James Metecan Birsen is a Turkish professional basketball player for Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Super League (BSL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), he plays at the small forward and power forward positions.
Flour kurabiye is a kind of Turkish cookie that is made from butter, sunflower oil, baking powder, and the namesake ingredient flour. Generally, vanilla powder is also added. Flour kurabiye is a variant of kurabiye.
Kolompeh is an Iranian pastry baked in the city of Kerman. Kolompeh looks like a pie with a mixture of minced dates with cardamom powder and other flavoring inside. Dates, wheat flour, walnuts and cooking oil are the main ingredients. Pistachios or sesame powder are often used for decorating kolompeh.
Osman Kavala is a businessman, activist and philanthropist who has supported numerous civil society organizations in Turkey since the early 1990s. Kavala is the founder and chair of the board of Anadolu Kültür, an Istanbul-based nonprofit arts and culture organization. In 2019, he received the European Archaeological Heritage Prize from the European Association of Archaeologists for his efforts to protect and preserve significant examples of cultural heritage in danger in Turkey and the Ayşenur Zarakolu Freedom of Thought and Expression Award by Human Rights Association's Istanbul branch. His arrests in Turkey caused the European Court of Human Rights and ambassadors from ten Western countries to demand his release. These demands were rejected by Turkish courts and president Erdoğan.
İzmir Bombası, or Praline Stuffed Cookies, is a kurabiye from the Turkish cuisine filled with chocolate spread. The kurabiye gets its name from Izmir, the place where it originates. The desert has a crispy dough layer on the outside and a fluid cream filling on the inside. Different stories have been published by Turkish media about who made the kurabiye first.
Bulan dan mek is one of the traditional Thai desserts inspired by royal songs in the reign of King Rama II of Chakri Dynasty, 1767-1824. It is a small dessert in which the center is a circular dimple with a yellow color and a bluish-purple surrounding skin.
