Shekarbura () is a sweet

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...

. In the Republic of Azerbaijan it is called ''Şəkərbura'' and is used as a dessert. It is a sweet pastry in half-moon shape, filled with ground

almonds The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera by corrugations on the sh ...

hazelnuts The hazelnut is the nut (fruit), fruit of the hazel, hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or fil ...

, or

walnuts A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an invo ...

, and sugar. Shekerbura, '' shorgoghal'', and '' pakhlava'' are the iconic foods of

Nowruz Nowruz (, , () , () , () , () , Kurdish language, Kurdish: () , () , () , () , , , , () , , ) is the Iranian or Persian New Year. Historically, it has been observed by Iranian peoples, but is now celebrated by many ...

in Azerbaijan. In Azerbaijan, it usually involves teamwork of relatives, friends and neighbors who congregate at someone's home to make it. Like other pastries prepared for Nowruz, Shekarbura also has a symbolic meaning which denotes the half-moon or flame of fire.

Preparation

The dough is made of wheat flour, butter, milk, egg yolks, cream, and yeast. The filling is prepared from peeled almond or fried nuts mixed with sugar powder. It also includes

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

to flavor the pastry. The dough is rolled and cut into small round shapes, then filled with stuffing and closed up by making a pattern of stitches. The stitching pattern on the dough is produced using traditional tweezers called .

Other versions

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, it is called ''shekarbureh'' (). Originally, it was like a

halva Halva (also halvah, halwa, halua, and other spellings; ) is a type of confectionery that is widely spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Central Asia, and South Asia. The name is used for a broad va ...

made from sugar and almonds. Its alternate names in Persian include ''Shekarborak'', ''Shekarbora'', ''Shekarpareh'', ''Shekarbozeh'' and ''Shekarpirah''.Dihkhudā, ʻAlī Akbar. 2003. Lughatʹnāmah. Tihrān: Muʼassasah-i Intishārat va Chāp-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān. Entry: شکربورک In its different variations, the dessert is also common in Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey. In Anatolia, a similar pastry is called ''

Şekerpare Şekerpare () is one of the popular desserts in the Turkish cuisine. Mainly prepared by baking some soft balls of almond based pastry dipped in thick (optionally) lemon-flavored sugar syrup, ''şekerpare'' is pronounced "''sheh-kehr-PAH-reh''" i ...

'' in Turkish, which is one of the popular desserts in the

Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine () is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, Ottoman cuisine (Osmanlı mutfağı), European influences, Seljuk Empire, Seljuk cuisine and the Turkish diaspora. Turkish cuisine with traditional Turkic peoples, Turkic elements s ...

. It is mainly prepared by baking some soft balls of almond based pastry dipped in thick lemon-flavored sugar syrup, different from the Azerbaijani Shekarbura.

References

{{Cuisine of Azerbaijan Azerbaijani desserts Nut dishes

Preparation

Other versions

See also

References