Delicious pastries and desserts from around the world

This is a popular dessert in Asia, specifically in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malasya, and Macau. In China it is sometimes served in the shape of a fish, referring to Gold or Koi fish which symbolize good luck.

Crème brûlée is a cream with a crust of caramelized sugar. It can be flavored with vanilla, liquor, or other ingredients. There is a great controversy as to whether the origin of this dessert is French or English.

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This is a traditional dessert in The Netherlands, especially on New Year's Eve. They say it is the precursor of the American doughnut. The pastry consists of yeast dough, optionally filled with raisins, and fried in a deep bowl of oil. It is served with powdered sugar.

Cholado is a typical fruit salad from the Cauca Valley in Colombia. It is prepared on a scraped ice base to which fruits and condensed milk are added. They say it's good for curing hangovers!

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This dish is part of the gastronomy of several countries. Asian traders took the rice to Europe and Africa. Brazil makes both sweet and salty versions of the milk-rice dish. The salty ones contain coriander. The Danish, meanwhile, include almonds in the recipe, and Filipinos use chocolate.

Blini is a traditional pancake from Slavic countries (Russia, Ukraine, Poland). It can be served with smoked fish. It is a food that originates in the time of pre-Christian peoples.

Baklava is a typical Turkish dessert made with honey and a paste of pistachios, nuts, or other dried fruit from the region.

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This is a tropical and exotic dessert from Thailand called Wun Gati Bai Tuey. It's prepared with coconut, Pandan, and Agar, which is a natural vegetable derived from seaweeds. It has no odor or flavor, but it helps the jam to set.

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The 'Chicha morada' is a dessert made from corn, enjoyed in Peru since pre-colonial times. It includes fruit and is served with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

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This chocolate cake is a registered trademark of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. It is one of the most famous gastronomic specialties of the city and several establishments have tried to imitate its recipe.

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Milhojas has an uncertain origin but it is very popular in Spain and several Latin American countries. The milhoja consists of several layers of puff pastry, filled with different flavors, among them milk jam and cream of whipped egg whites.

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Elected one of the seven wonders of Portuguese gastronomy, its original recipe is kept under lock and key by Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém, in Lisbon. It is made with egg.

While the origin of this dessert is not very clear, it is generally considered to come from Japan. In the mid-90s, the company Maeda-en USA made this flavor of ice cream and exported it to Japan. It used the famous phrase: "Pure Japanese style made in California."

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The name of this dessert is a tribute to the Russian dancer Anna Pavlova from the time she visited New Zealand. The cake, made of meringue and covered with fruit, is popular in Oceania and typically served at Christmas parties.

The alfajor, a soft cookie filled with dulce de leche (milk jam), is very popular in Argentina. The people there consume about 6 million alfajors per day. The real origin of the jam is Spanish. It was introduced in the time of the Muslim occupation of Spain.

This cake, typically served at tea time, resembles a sponge cake. It is assembled with two layers of cake and, between them, quince jam and cream.

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The most famous Strudel is made with apples and cream. It is a pastry from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is especially popular in Germany. Its name means 'swirl'.

The tiramisu has its origins in Italy in the 1950s. Nowadays, it is elaborated in many ways. The ingredients are coffee, cream, and eggs, among others.

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