Dessert

Uruguay

Chaj&aacute; is an Uruguayan cake consisting of layers of sponge cake, whipped cream, meringue, and peaches, while a layer of dulce de leche on top is often seen, but not mandatory. The cake was invented in the 1920s by Orlando Castellano at the Confiter&iacute;a Las Familias in Paysand&uacute;. He was inspired by a local bird, el chaj&aacute; (crested screamer), and that's how this delicious cake was invented. Nowadays, it is a staple at Uruguayan feasts and celebrations.

Chajá

Australia

Champulado is a Chamorro dish made by boiling short-grained or medium-grained rice until it develops a soft texture. It is then combined with milk, sugar, and cocoa powder in order to create a delicious pudding. Champulado can be served warm or cold, and it is derived from the classic Mexican atole-based beverage called champurrado.

Champulado

India

Chandrakanthalu are traditional Indian cookies originating from Andhra Pradesh. They&rsquo;re made with a combination of green gram (moong dal), sugar, coconut, cardamom, saffron, cashew nuts, and ghee. The dal is soaked, ground into a paste, then mixed with grated coconut and sugar. The concoction is cooked and formed into a ball. The cardamom, saffron, and chopped cashews are mixed, dipped in water, squeezed until dry, then spread on a board. The cooked mixture is spread on top of the latter one, and the whole thing is pressed in order to create a thin sheet. The desired shapes are then cut out and deep-fried in ghee until golden brown. This sweet is usually prepared for festivals and similar celebrations.

Chandrakanthalu

Also known as grass jelly, chao kuai is a traditional dessert typically served with crushed ice and sprinkled with brown sugar. This refreshing dessert is made with a jelly base which is prepared by cooking the leaves and stalks of Mesona chinesis - a member plant of the mint family. Apart from Thailand, chao kuai is popular all across Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Depending on the region, chao kuai is either enjoyed on its own, doused in condensed or evaporated milk, or served mixed with jackfruit, mango, sago, watermelon, cantaloupe, and other fresh or canned fruit.

Chao kuai

Peru

Chapanas is a Peruvian sweet treat mostly associated with the Ica region, based on cassava flour, anise, and molasses. The combination is traditionally wrapped in a dry leaf, and the dish is served and consumed cold. The name chapana is derived from the Quechua word chapuni, meaning to knead.

Chapanas

Chapssaltteok is a South Korean dessert made with glutinous rice and red bean paste. Because it is very similar to the Japanese mochi (meaning rice cake in Japanese), some people also refer to chapssaltteok by that name. The dessert is characterized by its dense, chewy texture, and it is quite popular to prepare it at home, especially for children. The Korean variety is traditionally green in color on the exterior due to the usage of matcha green tea powder. Sometimes, chapssaltteok is given to students who have an important exam coming up, in hopes that it will bring them good luck.

Chapssaltteok

This cake originated in 18th-century France as a sponge cake pressed into an elegant mold, filled with thick custard or cr&egrave;me Bavaroise flavored with cooked fruit, spices, or brandy. The cake is said to have been invented by a famous French chef Marie-Antoine Car&ecirc;me, who many considered the father of French cuisine. While the origin of the name Charlotte is often debated, Car&ecirc;me likely named his cake Russe to honor his Russian employer Czar Alexander I, and he also included a recipe for Charlotte &agrave; la Russe (originally Charlotte &agrave; la Parisienne) in his 1815 cookbook The Royal Parisian Pastry Cook and Confectioner. A true favorite among European aristocrats, this sweet dish has taken on many different variations over time, like the delicious Charlotte Malakoff, filled with a kirsch-flavored almond cream and decorated with chantilly cream and berries. This version was invented in 1855, when French and British forces won a battle against Russia in the Crimean War. The Charlotte as we know it today is typically more simplified &ndash; a cake made with ladyfingers and filled with either custard, mousse, or a mixture of whipped cream and fruit pur&eacute;e. Another popular alternative to the Russe version is the so-called Charlotte Royale &ndash; it has the same filling as Charlotte Russe, but replaces the ladyfinger lining with Swiss roll slices. Charlotte russe is often topped with jelly and decorated with various fruit, making it a beautiful and delicious dessert fit for the Czar.

Charlotte russe

Portugal

Charutos dos Arcos are a traditional Portuguese dessert of cigar-shaped pastries ("charuto" means "cigar" in Portuguese) filled with a rich almond paste and egg yolk cream. The pastry is usually made from wafers and is filled with the almond or egg yolk mixture before being rolled into a cigar-like shape and rolled in sugar. The dessert is considered a conventual sweet, as many in Portugal, and the original recipe is a secret. Still, it is mainly connected with the Arcos de Valdevez's Do&ccedil;aria Central, which trademarked it in 1963. Other city bakeries make variations on the original recipe by adding chila jam and orange zest, for example. It is recommended that it be served with slices of Ermelo orange.

Charutos dos Arcos

France

Chaussons aux pommes are traditional French turnovers filled with a delectable apple compote filling. The turnovers are made with a combination of peeled and cored apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, puff pastry, and beaten eggs. The apples are chopped, combined with flour, sugar, cinnamon, and water, then mixed. The filling is placed in the center of the puff pastry circle, which is then folded into a semicircle and brushed with egg wash so that it sticks. The top is also brushed with eggwash, and the pastry is baked until it puffs up and becomes golden brown. According to legend, the original version of these turnovers was created in 1630 in Saint Calais. At the time, the town was suffering an epidemic, so the Chatelaine (lady of the town) gave flour and apples to those in need, and they made chaussons aux pommes. Today, there is an annual celebration of the event, called Fete du chaussons aux pommes. Interestingly, the name of the dish can be translated as apple slippers, referring to the visual appearance of this tasty filled pastry.

Chaussons aux pommes

Chavde is a crispy, deep-fried Indian dessert that's traditionally prepared during the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. It consists of thinly-rolled, round-shaped dough and a fragrant mixture of roasted coconut, cardamom, sesame seeds, and sugar. The dough is fried until it becomes puffy and crispy, and while still warm, it's filled with the coconut mixture. The pastry is then folded and can sometimes be additionally sprinkled with the filling. This specialty is usually associated with the Konkani people and the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Chavde

Vietnamese ch&egrave; dishes include any traditional sweet soup, beverage, pudding, or any other custard-like dessert that is made with a base of either water or coconut cream and served either hot or cold. Other ingredients for making ch&egrave; include various jellies and fruits, beans and pulses, rice and grains, and even tubers and cereals. It is believed that ch&egrave; desserts originated in the central region of Vietnam, but today they are widely available throughout the country and prepared in countless variations. Because of their hearty contents like beans and sticky rice, they are a popular snack item commonly sold in plastic cups at Vietnamese grocery stores, while one of the most popular ch&egrave; varieties prepared at home is the so-called ch&egrave; đậu trắng. This white bean and rice pudding flavored with coconut syrup is traditionally offered at Vietnamese family gatherings celebrating the first birthday of a baby.

Chè

Chebakia is a chewy, crunchy, and fragrant Moroccan pastry made by arranging strips of dough into a flower shape. It is then fried, coated in honey, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. This sweet treat is traditionally prepared during the month of Ramadan, and is typically served alongside harira. It takes a lot of time and effort to prepare chebakia, so Moroccan women often ask sisters, mothers, or friends to help them in making large quantities of these cookies.

Chebakia

Ch&egrave; ba m&agrave;u is a colorful Vietnamese dish that belongs to the category of desserts, drinks, puddings, porridges, and soups regarding its consistency. It might include sticky rice, tapioca pearls, lotus seeds, sweet beans, water chestnuts, or agar jelly. Regardless of the wide variety of ingredients used in ch&egrave;, they are almost always drenched in coconut milk and additionally garnished with bananas, crushed peanuts, or other toppings. The dish is served either hot or cold, although it is especially popular as a chilly treat on hot summer days. It is believed that the Cantonese dessert soup called tong sui is ch&egrave; ba m&agrave;u's predecessor. The dish is sometimes referred to as three-layered dessert or rainbow dessert due to its three distinct layers: yellow (mung beans), red (azuki beans), and green (agar jelly with pandan extract). There are also some other varieties of ch&egrave; such as ch&egrave; bap, ch&egrave; ba ba, and ch&egrave; dau den, but ch&egrave; ba m&agrave;u still holds the number one spot in terms of popularity.

Chè ba màu

Ch&egrave; bưởi is a traditional pomelo soup. It's made with a combination of pomelo, mung beans, and coconut. The green pomelo cover is peeled off, and the white spongy parts are used for the dish. They're cut into cubes, salted, soaked in water, rinsed, boiled, and mixed with sugar and tapioca starch. The mixture is combined with steamed mung beans, water, coconut milk, and sugar until the combination develops a thick consistency. This dessert is especially popular during the summer due to its cooling properties.

Chè bưởi

Ch&egrave; chuối is a simple Vietnamese dessert consisting of tapioca pearls and sliced bananas or plantains, preferably small, ripe, and sweet varieties usually found in Southeast Asia. Tapioca and bananas are combined with coconut cream or coconut milk, and the dish is often sweetened and occasionally flavored with pandan leaves. The coconut cream provides creaminess, while tapioca pearls give the dessert its typical pudding-like consistency. Ch&egrave; chuối is usually served in bowls, and it's sometimes garnished with crushed peanuts or sesame seeds.

Chè chuối

Ch&egrave; đậu xanh is a traditional dessert soup. It's prepared with mung beans as the main ingredient. Apart from the mung beans, the soup also contains water, sugar, and coconut milk. The beans are soaked, drained, rinsed, then slowly simmered with sugar until tender. Coconut milk is added near the end of cooking, and the soup is then left to cool down or chilled in the refrigerator. Due to the fact that mung beans have cooling properties, ch&egrave; đậu xanh is especially popular in the summer.

Chè đậu xanh

Thick and fudgy chocolate brownies and a tangy cream cheese filling are combined to create one of the true American culinary classics - the cheesecake brownie. Regular chocolate brownies are one of the favorite American desserts that have been internationally recognized as a quick, satisfying, and scrumptious chocolate treat. The cheesecake variety employs the same rich and dense chocolate mixture as the base of the cake, which is topped with velvety cream cheese. Generously sweetened and infused with vanilla essence, the cheese is the perfect refreshing complement to the thick brownie sponge. The cream cheese filling can be merely spread on top of the base, or partially mixed to create a visually striking marbled effect. This famous American treat is usually baked in pans and served sliced in square shapes which are meant to be eaten by hand. Although classic chocolate brownies have been present in the American cuisine since the 20th century, the addition of cream cheese is a fairly modern invention that quickly gained popularity, and today stands as one of the favorite types of brownies.

Cheesecake Brownies

Vietnam

Ch&egrave; hạt sen is a traditional sweet soup hailing from Hue. This local specialty contains buttery lotus seeds and green rice flakes in a sweet broth. Due to the cooling properties of this dish, locals often consume it in the summer in order to combat the heat. In the past, this sweet soup was served to royal families. Nowadays, the residents of Hue serve it to important guests on special occasions.

Chè hạt sen

Ch&egrave; khoai m&ocirc;n is a traditional taro pudding. This simple dessert is prepared with cubes of taro, sticky rice, pandan extract, and sugar. The cubes of taro are steamed until soft, then combined with cooked sticky rice, a few drops of pandan, and sugar. This pudding is served hot or chilled, and it's recommended to top it with coconut sauce before serving.

Chè khoai môn

This traditional treat is prepared with roasted glutinous rice that is milled into a fine powder before it's combined with peanuts, ginger, and either molasses or sugar. The mixture is continuously stirred until it develops a consistency of a sticky, pliable dough which is then flattened and coated in rice powder. Slices of ch&egrave; lam are best enjoyed with a cup of warm tea, and although they were traditionally prepared for special occasions, the cakes are now enjoyed throughout the year, and they're especially popular in rural areas.