Dessert

Pannekoek is a variety of Dutch pancakes that are somewhere between American pancakes and cr&ecirc;pes in terms of thickness, consisting of milk, flour, salt, and eggs. In the Netherlands, pannekoeken are usually eaten for dinner, lunch, or dessert, but rarely for breakfast. They are typically served with molasses syrup (stroop), sugar, apples, and cinnamon, but when made as a hearty lunch, some cooks like to add bacon and cheese to plain pancakes. Pannekoeken are also popular in Belgium and South Africa, where it is common to serve them with cinnamon sugar and a single lemon wedge. South Africans love to eat the pancakes when it is cold and raining outside, so much that the cold, damp weather is known as pancake-weather in the country.

Pannekoek

United States

Panocha is a flavorful American pudding that is especially popular in New Mexico and southern Colorado, unsurprisingly so, as the dish has a great Mexican influence. This thick pudding consists of panocha flour (made from sprouted wheat), cane sugar, water, butter, and warming spices such as cinnamon and cloves. Although panocha used to be baked in empty lard cans in the past, today the mixture is baked in an oven, and the dish is traditionally served well-chilled.

Panocha

India

Originating in Bengal, pantua is a soft, spherical dessert that is entirely drenched in cardamom-and-saffron-flavored sugar syrup. A dough of khoa (dried evaporated milk solids), chhena (Indian cottage cheese), flour, and baking powder is shaped into small balls, which are then fried in hot ghee (clarified butter) or oil before they are submerged into the warm sugar syrup. This East Indian dessert is considered to be a variation of another Indian sweet called gulab jamun, which uses only khoa in its dough. There are different versions of pantua itself, namely langcha and ledikenni, which are distinguished by different shapes and finishes. Pantua is often enhanced with the addition of dry nuts or raisins, and it can also be made with boiled sweet potatoes. The dessert is commonly prepared on celebratory occasions and for Hindu festivals such as Durga Puja.

Pantua

Portugal

P&atilde;o de l&oacute; de Alfeizer&atilde;o is a traditional sponge cake made with eggs, sugar, flour, and a touch of brandy. Known for its extremely light and fluffy texture, it is round with a concave center, and has a soft, creamy interior. This delicate cake is only sold at the place of production due to its fragility. Its origins are believed to trace back to the Monastery of Santa Maria de C&oacute;s in Alcoba&ccedil;a, with the recipe later popularized in Alfeizer&atilde;o. It has become a sought-after treat, particularly among drivers traveling through the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region.

Pão de ló de Alfeizerão

P&atilde;o de L&oacute; de Ovar may be the most famous Portuguese cake, dating back to the 18th century when it was made in convents by nuns. The earliest written evidence about this sponge cake dates back to 1781, in a book called Irmandade dos Passos, where it is said that p&atilde;o de L&oacute; de Ovar was a sweet offered to the priests who took the wooden framework to carry the statues in the Holy Week procession. This creamy sponge cake is traditionally made from eggs, sugar, and flour, and today, it is often seen at most food fairs in Portugal. The cake is popular throughout the country, not just in the municipality of Ovar, where it is traditionally produced.

Pão de Ló de Ovar

P&atilde;o de rala is a Portuguese dessert that was supposedly invented in Santa Helena do Monte Calv&aacute;rio convent, located in &Eacute;vora. This sweet, round bread is made with almond-based dough that is wrapped around a sweet filling consisting of sugar, fios de ovos (sweet egg yolk threads), and (most commonly) jam or pur&eacute;e made from gila squash. Optionally, the cake can be flavored with lemon or orange zest. Dating back to the 16th century, the cake was invented to commemorate the visit of King Sebastian, and in the past, it was traditionally made in the convents located throughout Alentejo. Nowadays, this traditional delicacy can be found in local pastry shops.

Pão de rala

Papanași is a traditional donut-shaped pastry with a small sphere on top. It can be fried or boiled, and it's made by adding unsalted cheese such as br&acirc;nză de vaci (cow's milk cheese) or urdă to a regular flour and egg dough. The fried papanași are usually donut-shaped and can be served with fruit jams, a dollop of sour cream, or powdered sugar. The boiled ones are smaller, nugget-shaped, and typically coated with a mix of breadcrumbs and sugar. This dessert can be found in most Romanian traditional restaurants or it can be prepared at home.

Papanași

Spain

Paparajotes are sweet Spanish snack originating from Murcia. They consist of lemon tree leaves that are dipped in a batter consisting of milk, flour, eggs, and yeast, and then fried in olive oil and dusted with cinnamon and sugar. The lemon leaves should be young and large, just beginning to fill with the essential citrus oils. There are variations, so it's not uncommon to find anise and lemon zest in the batter as well. Once fried, the leaves are picked up by their stems, and the sugary, crispy batter is pulled off and enjoyed on its own because the leaves are only used to give a slight citrus tang to the batter. Paparajotes are typically available during the spring at local festivals and fairs. It's recommended to pair them with dessert wines, coffee, or herb liqueurs, while a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side is sometimes served as an accompaniment.

Paparajotes

Italy

Papassini are traditional cookies hailing from Sardinia. They were once mainly prepared for different festivities, particularly on All Saints Day and during Christmas, but they are now enjoyed and found all year round. The recipes vary across Sardinia, but most of them include flour, eggs, sugar, lard or butter, raisins, lemon zest, baking powder or baker's ammonia, and ground nuts such as walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts. The variations sometimes include cinnamon, vanilla, candied citrus zest, and fennel seeds, while some even use grape syrup (sapa). When kneaded, the dough is usually cut into diamond shapes, and the cookies are baked until golden brown. When chilled, they are generously coated with royal icing, and are then decorated with colorful sprinkles. The name of these cookies stems from the word papassa&mdash;which translates from Sardinian as raisins.

Papassini

Papitas de leche are traditional sweet treats (or milk truffles) originating from Venezuela. These small desserts are made with simple ingredients such as sugar, condensed milk, powdered milk, and cloves. Papitas de leche are instantly recognizable due to the cloves that are studded into the center of each papita. The dry ingredients are first mixed in a bowl, and the condensed milk is added after that. The mixture should be smooth and firm. It&rsquo;s rolled into small balls, and a clove is stuck into each papita de leche before they&rsquo;re enjoyed. These small desserts are ideal for festive events and gatherings.

Papitas de leche

This traditional Portuguese dessert is made by beating hefty amounts of egg yolks with sugar and then baking the mixture until set. The cakes typically come in small, round shapes, and after baking, they are doused in a thick syrup that's usually enriched with orange or lemon zest, rum, vanilla, or cinnamon. Similar to other Portuguese sweets, papo de anjo also originated sometime in the 14th or 15th century as a conventual sweet&mdash;first prepared by nuns who had an abundance of egg yolks because they used egg whites to starch and iron their habits. The name papo de anjo roughly translates as angel&rsquo;s double chin. The dessert is also popular in Brazil.

Papo de anjo

Paprenjaci are traditional Croatian biscuits with honey and black pepper. They were usually prepared throughout the year, although they are mostly associated with Christmas time and winter. Originally, these were simple, square-shaped biscuits with various decorations on top such as religious or pagan symbols, but today they can be shaped in many different forms. The most popular varieties include biscuits with pepper, from the city of Zagreb, and the ones from the island of Hvar, where they are made with a combination of spices, but without pepper.

Paprenjaci

Croatia

The people of Virovitica take great pride in their homemade tomato juice, so it is unsurprising that they developed a dessert using tomato juice as the key ingredient. The dessert is called paradajz kolač, and apart from tomato juice, it contains sugar, oil, flour, eggs, baking powder, and cinnamon. In order to prepare it, eggs are beaten with sugar, and all the other ingredients are added later. The concoction is poured into a baking dish, then baked until slightly browned.

Paradajz kolač

Czech Republic

Pardubick&yacute; pern&iacute;k is a baked pastry product made in the city of Pardubice and the municipality of Spojil in the Czech Republic since the 16th century, but the production really took off in the 20th century. It is a decorated gingerbread product made in two varieties. One is a filled product where the filling is placed between two pieces of gingerbread and coated with sugar or chocolate, and the second variety are gingerbread figures cut in various two or three-dimensional shapes such as hearts, stars, animals, cars, boxes, sledges or Christmas trees, and coated with sugar or fat glaze. Both products are made from wheat flour, eggs, sugar, honey, jam, cocoa and gingerbread mixture - including cloves, coriander, cinnamon, allspice and aniseed. The gingerbread products make a great sweet gift and are commonly bought for special occasions such as Easter, St. Valentine's Day, St. Nicholas Day, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Pardubický perník

Pardulas are small, ricotta-based tartlets hailing from the Italian island of Sardinia. Depending on the area, their name changes: they are called pardulas in the southwest Sardinia, while in the area around Nuoro they are known as casadinas. Made with ground semolina, lard, ricotta, sugar, eggs, saffron, and grated lemon zest, pardulas are traditionally prepared for Easter. They are best enjoyed warm, dusted with powdered sugar.

Pardulas

The name of this partially frozen French dessert means perfect &ndash; so one can imagine that its creators intended the experience of eating it to be no less thrilling than its name implies. Parfait is a frozen dessert made from a base of egg yolks, sugar, and whipped cream, and it can be flavored with any number of additional ingredients such as fruit, nuts, or coffee. Today, however, parfaits can be made with savory ingredients as well, and there are versions made with seafood, vegetables, and even foie gras. Parfaits were originally served on decorative plates, but today they are usually layered in tall and thin flute glasses. The dessert is so popular that it even has its own holiday in the US &ndash; National Parfait Day &ndash; which is celebrated on November 25th.

Parfait

France

Created in 1910 by chef Louis Durand to celebrate the famous Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race, which led from the center of Paris past the door of his pastry shop in Maisons-Laffitte to Brittany and back, this decadent dessert is a true French classic found in p&acirc;tisseries all over the country. With a shape resembling that of a bicycle wheel, Paris-Brest is made with a ring of p&acirc;te &agrave; choux &ndash; a puffy hollow pastry traditionally flavored with fleur de sel, topped with flaked almonds, and baked until golden brown. The airy pastry ring is then sliced horizontally and filled with a rich hazelnut and almond mousseline pralin&eacute; cream, while the upper crust is generously dusted with powdered sugar. Regardless of the numerous creative interpretations and modern takes on this classic recipe, the perfect Paris-Brest should always be dominated by the toasted nutty flavor and aroma of praline cream.

Paris-Brest

Parkin or perkin is a sticky cake originating from Northern England, although it is mostly associated with Yorkshire. It consists of flour, oatmeal, black treacle, and either lard or butter. Many cooks like to spice it up with a hefty dose of ginger in order to elevate the flavors. Parkin is characterized by its hard texture after baking, but if it is left in a sealed container, it becomes soft and moist. Parkin is always prepared for Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night)&mdash;celebrated on November 5&mdash;but it is also commonly enjoyed throughout winter.

Parkin

Parlies are small shortbread biscuits that originated in the 18th century Edinburgh and were first supplied to the gentry and members of the Scottish Parliament from a shop in Waverley, owned by a certain Mrs. Flockhart, who was also known as Luckie Fykie. Parliament cakes, in their full name, are heavily flavored with ground ginger, while their color comes from the addition of either the tangy black treacle or golden syrup. Originally square-shaped and served with a tot of whiskey, parlies are today more similar to other typical biscuits and are most often paired with tea.

Parlies

Parrozzo is a traditional Christmas cake in the shape of a dome, consisting of almonds, flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. The cake is additionally flavored with lemon zest and covered with a rich chocolate glaze. It was invented in the 1920s as a sweet version of pane rozzo, a savory, coarse cornmeal bread of the Abruzzo countryside. Its dark chocolate coating is supposed to be an imitation of the burnt areas of pane rozzo, which was baked in wood-burning ovens.