Today we're looking at Europe's most famous baked goods and desserts. If you ever get the chance to visit Europe, you have to try them. Going without tasting them is like not really having been there at all!
Desserts soothe the soul, and life just isn't complete without something sweet. So today we're introducing desserts from several European countries that are seriously delicious. Many are already familiar in Thailand, but Europe has plenty more tempting treats we don't know so well, and they're sure to please. If you get to travel in Europe, don't miss the chance to taste these sweets. Let's see what they are.
Apple Strudel
Apple strudel is Austria's famous traditional pastry, and anyone visiting Vienna absolutely must try it. It may look simple, but it features delicate, paper-thin pastry wrapped around an apple filling. Stretching the dough that thin takes considerable skill and experience. After baking it is dusted with icing sugar and usually served with vanilla sauce, or with ice cream for an even tastier treat.
Tiramisu
A dessert with a subtle bitterness from coffee, tiramisu is an Italian-style cake made from biscuits dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped cream made from egg yolks and cheese, with the aroma of cocoa too. It is quite rich and suited to adults, but children love it as well.
Zeppole (Italian Doughnuts)
We've met doughnuts from many countries, and now it's the turn of Italian doughnuts. Originally they were sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and eaten with honey. Today they've gained extra details, filled with cream or topped with whipped cream, making them more playful and fun to eat.
Cannoli
An appetising Italian pastry: a thin, crisp shell rolled into a tube and filled with cream cheese and candied fruit. The filling is often made from Italian sheep's milk.
Schneeballen
This oddly shaped treat is a speciality of Rothenburg in Germany, famous for several hundred years. Strips of dough are formed into a ball, deep-fried and then coated in various flavours such as chocolate, white chocolate, strawberry and nuts.
Apfelküchlein (Apple Fritters)
Moving on to Switzerland, here's a simple but delicious treat: apple fritters. Apples are cut into rings, dipped in hazelnut batter and fried until golden and crisp, then served with a little vanilla sauce. It is a famous Swiss treat that's easy to find.
Mont Blanc
The name sounds like the mountain, and the dessert looks like Mont Blanc too. It is a cake made from chestnuts with meringue inside, and chestnut cream piped in swirls up the sides into a mountain, dusted with white icing sugar like snow.
Paris-Brest
This round pastry is shaped like a bicycle wheel, inspired by the legendary charity bike ride from Paris to Brest. The pastry is like choux, thin and puffy, filled in the middle with cream or chocolate.
Kouign-Amann
It may look unusual, but we highly recommend trying it at least once. This famous cake from Brittany in France is a crisp, buttery bread dough topped with sugar.
Nougat
After all those cakes and pastries, let's try a French sweet. Nougat combines honey, egg whites and nuts. It's sweet, fragrant and so moreish you won't be able to stop.
And those are some of the many delicious baked goods and sweets from across Europe. These famous European treats come from many countries, and this is just a selection. Many of you probably know some of them already and love them too, and there are surely plenty more delicious treats still waiting to be tried.
