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Moro de guandules con cocoPigeon pea and coconut rice

No Dominican Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) table is without moro de guandules: rice cooked with green pigeon peas in a savoury sofrito, and in the Samaná and east-coast style with coconut milk. It arrives beside the roast pork or chicken and the Russian salad, but it is so full of flavour that it stands alone as a vegan main. The crust at the bottom of the pot, the concón, is the prize. Chef's tip: don't lift the lid while the rice steams; when the liquid drops to the level of the rice, cover tightly and leave it alone.

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SchlorzifladenDried pear tart

Schlorzifladen comes from the Toggenburg valley in the canton of St Gallen in eastern Switzerland, where dried pears (schlorzi) were a winter staple. The thin, crisp tart is filled with a thick, dark purée of cooked dried pears spiced with cinnamon, and baked for Christmas and village feast days. Some versions have a rice or cream layer on top; this is the simple pear one. Pear brandy is sometimes added, but this version uses lemon juice instead and is alcohol-free. Chef's tip: cook the pear purée until it is stiff enough to hold a spoon upright, or it soaks the pastry.

120 minSwissBaking
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Tmar mehchi (Moroccan almond-stuffed dates)

Tmar mehchi is the stuffed date of Fez and Marrakech, piled high on silver trays at weddings, engagements and Eid, and offered to guests with mint tea. Soft dates are filled with a homemade almond paste perfumed with orange-blossom water, often tinted pale green or pink to match the celebration, then scored with a knife so the filling shows. They are soft, rich and caramel-sweet, with a floral, nutty middle. The paste here is mixed from ground almonds and icing sugar, so there is no shop marzipan, which can contain egg white. It is naturally egg-free: the dates' sticky flesh and a few spoonfuls of orange-blossom water bind the almond filling. Chef's tip: add the orange-blossom water a little at a time and stop when the paste is firm like play dough. The common mistake is a wet paste, which oozes out and makes the dates slippery.

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TopfengolatschenSweet quark puff pastry squares

A Topfengolatsche is what Viennese office workers grab from the bakery on the way in, and what grandparents order with a Melange in a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon. The corners of a puff pastry square are folded over a lemony, vanilla-scented filling of Topfen (Austrian quark) with plump raisins, and the top gets a thin white glaze. It is flaky, light and not too sweet. Raisins are sometimes soaked in rum; warm water or orange juice works just as well, and the recipe below is alcohol-free. Wet quark is the classic problem, because it turns the filling runny and it leaks out in the oven. Chef's tip: hang the quark in a sieve lined with a clean cloth for an hour, or squeeze it, until it is as thick as soft cream cheese.

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Moroccan bachkoutouOrange and sesame dunking biscuits

Moroccan grandmothers bake bachkoutou by the trayful and keep them in big tins for the afternoon glass of sweet mint tea, and neighbourhood ovens in Fes and Casablanca bake them for families who bring their dough. These are dry, crunchy little biscuits, not rich at all, made with eggs, sugar and oil rather than butter, with orange zest and a coating of toasted sesame; they are meant to be dunked until they soften slightly. Shapes vary from town to town: fingers, rings and rope twists are all common, and some cooks add aniseed. Too much flour is the easy mistake: the dough should stay soft and slightly sticky, or the biscuits bake heavy and hard rather than crisp and light. Chef's tip: once they are cold, put them back in a warm, switched-off oven for 20 minutes; that extra drying is what makes them keep their snap for weeks.

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Kärntner ReindlingCinnamon raisin yeast cake

Carinthia's Easter loaf takes its name from the Reindl, the round, deep pan it is baked in, and in southern Austria no Easter basket goes to church without one. Inside the golden yeast crust is a spiral of butter, cinnamon sugar and plump raisins, so every slice shows a dark swirl. Locals eat it two ways: sweet with coffee on Easter morning, or alongside the savoury Easter platter with horseradish. Many bakers soak the raisins in rum overnight; warm water or tea works just as well and keeps it alcohol-free. A dry, crumbly Reindling usually means too much flour went in during kneading, so keep the dough soft and only lightly floured. Chef's tip: butter the pan well and dust it with sugar, which caramelises into a thin crunchy shell.

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ErdäpfelstrudelSavoury potato strudel

Austrians, especially in the Mühlviertel of Upper Austria and the Waldviertel, make savoury strudels as often as sweet ones, and Erdäpfelstrudel is a farmhouse favourite for a meatless Friday or a cold evening. Thin pastry wraps a filling of potatoes, fried onion, sour cream, marjoram and parsley, baked until crisp and golden and sliced with a green salad or a dill and sour-cream dip. Bought filo makes it easy at home. The mistake to avoid is a wet filling, which turns the pastry soggy underneath. Chef's tip: cool the filling completely before rolling; warm filling makes the layers stick and tear.

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Gâteau du VullySweet cream yeast cake

On the slopes of Mont Vully between Lake Murten and Lake Neuchâtel, bakers fill their windows with this flat yeast cake on Sundays and at the autumn harvest festival in Môtier and Praz. A soft, buttery dough is dimpled all over, sprinkled thickly with sugar and doused with cream, which bakes into a caramel-like crust that dips into the hollows. A savoury cousin is topped with bacon and caraway; this is the sweet one. Chef's tip: press really deep dimples with your fingertips right before baking, so pools of cream and sugar stay in place instead of sliding off.

125 minSwissBaking
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MailänderliLemon butter cookies

Come December, almost every Swiss household bakes Mailänderli, the simplest and best-loved of the Weihnachtsguetzli: buttery, lemon-scented biscuits cut into stars, hearts and moons and painted with egg yolk so they bake to a deep shine. Children across German-speaking Switzerland help cut them out, and tins of them are swapped with neighbours and eaten all through Advent. Chef's tip: rest the dough in the fridge overnight, or for at least 2 hours; warm dough spreads and the shapes lose their sharp edges.

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FasnachtschüechliCarnival fried pastries

During Fasnacht, from Basel's drum-filled Morgestraich to Lucerne's masked parades, the bakeries stack Fasnachtschüechli in towers: huge, wafer-thin rounds of fried dough so delicate they shatter at first bite, showering icing sugar everywhere. Families in central Switzerland still make them at home in February, stretching the dough over their knees. A rolling pin and patience work fine. Chef's tip: roll the dough so thin that you can read through it; thick spots puff into chewy bubbles instead of crisp lace.

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AnisbrötliAnise cookies

Anisbrötli and their claw-shaped cousins Chräbeli are among the oldest Swiss Christmas biscuits, baked in Basel, Aargau and Zurich from Advent onwards and packed into tins beside Mailänderli and Brunsli. The egg and sugar dough is pressed into springerle moulds or cut into shapes, then left to dry overnight, so in the oven the bottom puffs up into a little 'foot' while the top stays white and smooth. Inside they are chewy and fragrant with anise. Chef's tip: beat the eggs and sugar for the full 10 minutes; under-whipped batter gives flat cookies with no foot.

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TirggelHoney biscuits

Tirggel have been baked in Zurich since the Middle Ages and are still sold at the Christmas markets on the Bahnhofstrasse and the old-town bakeries: wafer-thin honey biscuits pressed into carved moulds of guild scenes, animals and town views, then baked with heat from the top only so the raised picture turns golden while the back stays pale. They are hard and meant to be broken into pieces and let melt on the tongue. Wooden or silicone springerle moulds work at home. Chef's tip: bake them under the top heat only, or on the highest shelf with a tray below; full heat browns the whole biscuit and the picture disappears.

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Taillé aux greubonsCracklings pastry

In the cafés and wine-village bakeries of Vaud, from Lavaux to the Jura foothills, taillé aux greubons is served in squares with a glass of something at aperitif time, or warm at the market on Saturday mornings. Greubons are the crisp pork cracklings left after rendering lard; chopped and folded into a rough puff dough, they give a savoury, salty, deeply porky pastry with a criss-cross scored top. Buy pork cracklings (not crisps) from a butcher. Chef's tip: keep everything cold and fold quickly; if the butter melts into the dough you'll get a hard biscuit instead of flaky layers.

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Pane ticinesePull-apart white loaf

Pane ticinese comes from Switzerland's Italian-speaking south and is now sold in bakeries across the country: a long, flat loaf made of linked rolls, each section easy to break off, with a soft, slightly chewy crumb thanks to a little olive oil in the dough. In Lugano and Bellinzona it goes on the table at lunch with salami and formaggini, or is torn into hunks for minestrone; this version is vegan. Chef's tip: when shaping, press each fold right down with the side of your hand; the deep creases are what let the loaf snap into neat pieces after baking.

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NussgipfelHazelnut crescents

In Swiss train-station bakeries and village tearooms the Nussgipfel is the pastry commuters grab with their morning coffee: a crisp, flaky crescent wrapped around a sweet filling of ground hazelnuts and cinnamon, glazed so it shines. Bakers in Bern and Lucerne make their own laminated dough, but at home good all-butter puff pastry gives an excellent result in about an hour and a half. Chef's tip: chill the shaped crescents for 15 minutes before baking; warm pastry slumps and the filling leaks out.

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BürliCrusty bread rolls

Walk into a bakery in St. Gallen, Appenzell or Thurgau in the morning and you will find trays of Bürli, rough, flour-dusted rolls baked in clusters of two or four that you tear apart at the table. Their dough is wet and lightly handled, so the crust bakes up thin and crackling while the inside stays open and chewy. In eastern Switzerland they are the classic partner for a grilled St. Galler Bratwurst at football matches and markets, and they're just as good with butter and cheese. Chef's tip: don't add extra flour to the sticky dough; the high water content is what gives Bürli their big holes, so use wet hands and a scraper instead.

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Willisauer RingliSugar ring biscuits

The little town of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne has been making these rock-hard sugar rings since the 1800s, and Swiss children have been nibbling them on hikes and car journeys ever since, sucking them slowly like sweets. They are made from little more than sugar, flour, egg and lemon, and dried before baking so they set with a smooth, pale, glassy crust. The bakery recipe is a well-kept secret; this home version gets the same snap. Chef's tip: don't skip the overnight drying, which forms the crust that gives Ringli their famous crunch.

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Appenzeller BiberAlmond-filled gingerbread

In the green hills of Appenzell, Biber are the sweet that marks Christmas, New Year and christenings, and bakers in Appenzell town stamp them with wooden moulds of cows, bears and the traditional alpine ascent. The dough is a dark, spicy honey gingerbread wrapped around a layer of almond paste, baked until it glows chestnut brown. They keep well and are sliced or eaten whole with coffee. Chef's tip: leave the dough to rest for at least a day if you can; honey doughs get smoother and spicier with time and crack less when stamped.

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TotenbeinliAlmond biscuits

The name means 'little dead men's bones', but there is nothing gloomy about these crunchy almond biscuits from Graubünden, sold in the bakeries of Chur and the Engadin and dunked in coffee or a glass of milk on winter afternoons. Whole almonds are folded into a buttery, cinnamon-scented dough, baked in logs, then sliced and baked again, a little like biscotti but richer. Chef's tip: slice the logs while still warm with a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion; cold logs crumble and the almonds tear out.

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CaracChocolate tartlets

Bright green with a single chocolate dot, the carac is the cheerful little tart in the windows of every pastry shop from Geneva to Lausanne and Neuchâtel, and the one children in Romandie point at first. A crisp sweet shortcrust shell holds a rich dark chocolate ganache, sealed under a smooth layer of green icing. Pastry chefs use fondant; at home a thick icing-sugar glaze works well. Chef's tip: let the ganache set completely in the fridge before icing, or the green runs into the chocolate and the top looks muddy.

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Tarte au vin cuitPear syrup cream tart

Despite its name, vin cuit contains no wine. Farmers in Vaud and Fribourg boil down fresh pear and apple juice for hours in copper cauldrons each autumn until it becomes a dark, tangy syrup called vin cuit or raisinée, and bakeries turn it into this glossy brown cream tart for the Bénichon harvest feast in September and Sunday tables all year. The filling tastes of caramel, dried pear and a pleasant sourness. Outside Switzerland, look for pear syrup or pear concentrate. Chef's tip: take the tart out while the centre still wobbles a little; it sets as it cools and overbaking makes it cracked and grainy.

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WeggliSoft milk rolls

Weggli are the soft white rolls Swiss-German children grow up on: in Zurich, Bern and Basel they are bought warm on Saturday mornings, pulled apart along their deep central crease and eaten with butter and jam, or with a bar of chocolate pressed inside for the school break. The dough is enriched with milk and butter, so the crumb is fine and fluffy and the crust thin and golden. Chef's tip: press the crease firmly with the handle of a wooden spoon almost to the tray; if it's too shallow the rolls rise back into plain buns.

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Moroccan fried cauliflower in cumin batter

Casablanca home cooks fry cauliflower this way for Ramadan tables and family lunches alike: parboiled florets dipped in an egg batter heavy with cumin, paprika and parsley, then fried until puffed and golden. They're eaten hot with a squeeze of lemon or a spoon of chermoula, as a side to a tagine or on their own with bread. The common mistake is frying wet cauliflower; the batter slides off and spits, so dry the florets well after boiling. Chef's tip: keep the florets bite-sized and with a bit of stalk, so you can dip them by hand. Contains egg and wheat.

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Sweet rice briouats with honey

The old Fassi households and pastry shops of Fes and Rabat make rice briouats for Ramadan and weddings: short-grain rice cooked thick in milk with orange-blossom water, wrapped in warqa, fried and plunged into warm honey. They're crisp outside, creamy within, and served with mint tea. Runny rice pudding makes the pastry burst in the oil, so cook it until a spoon can stand in it, then chill it firm. Chef's tip: warm the honey with a splash of orange-blossom water, and dip the briouats while both are hot so the honey soaks in rather than sitting on top. Contains milk, wheat and almonds.

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