like sweets!
Sweets are something that the one wouldn't think to be the first (or at all) thing to take with you abroad as you expect it to be replaceable. But after some time (read: some experience) one understands that he misses his own country sweets, so widely available at home and not presented abroad.
So do I, it's been some time I am out of my country, and it's been way too long I am out of my favorite sweets!
Missing them, and in memory of them, and foreboding to have them soon, I am posting this: the list of my favorite russian deserts.
Just one more disclaimer: there isn't actually anything 'russian' in the deserts, and for most of them I wouldn't even think they are typical russian, but a posteriori - you ain't find it elsewhere.
1. marshmallow, which is called 'zefir' in russian. it's pretty much the same ingredients but much better taste :) Pieces are bigger and look like the ones on the picture down here. I also love it covered in chocolate! yummy!
2. profiteroles. Also never found it abroad, though I'd never thought they would be a russian invention! The ones on the pic have the cream coming out, but usually it's not.
3. cottage cheese rings. They are made of the same dough as profiteroles, but stuffed with sweet cottage cheese! Yummy! BTW cottage cheese in Russia is also different from what you have in Sweden, Belgium or India. It's like paste, and it's mostly sweet.
4. cake called 'Muraveinik' (which is translated as Anthill). It's made of crashed cookies connected together with very sugary boiled condensed milk (some kind of caramel). My favorite cake ever!
5. meringue (also known as 'kiss'), also my favorite. It has just 2 ingredients: egg white and sugar scrambled together and baked for 5 min only!
6. russian chocs. I still don't understand why it's not something common for other countries! And It is not pralines! The difference is that the chocs itself would have other ingredients apart from the chocolate - nuts, and cookies, and waffles, and whatever, and they would be wrapped in a cover each. The name and the cover would be basically the same no matter what company produced it, as it would tell consumers what kind of choc is it. And you buy them by weight. I know it still sounds like something you have all over the world, but it is not, it's different! My fav ones are on the pictures: Belochka, Karakum and Alenka.
7. scherbet (didn't find equivalent in english). Basically it's some sugary paste mixed with a little bit of peanuts. They have it in turkey, but I never saw it anywhere else. The funny part is that they don't call it "scherbet" in turkish, but scherbet for them is what we call
8. halva, which is mixture of sugar, nuts and oil. In the end it resembles soan papdi (hindi desert), just less sweet and made mostly of peanuts or sunflower seeds.
