Innovative Eid Desserts & Sweet Gifts From Around The World
Eid Al Fitr is celebrated by Muslims with joy and gusto across the world. It marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims spend time in spiritual introspection, abstain from eating and drinking between dawn and dusk, give money to the poor and serve those in need.
Also known as the "Festival of Sweets" or "Sweet Eid", the festivities are marked by the first sighting of the new moon.
The holiday commences with offering of a special prayer in the morning followed by friends and families coming together to celebrate, exchange Eid gifts and feast on indulgent desserts.
Just as Islam is practiced by people of diverse cultures across the globe, this diversity is also reflected in the variety of Eid desserts that are prepared and gifted to friends and family. We’ve cherry picked innovative and contemporary takes of our favourites and hope they inspire your Eid Gifting this year.
Gulabi Seviyaan (India / Pakistan)
Gulabi seviyaan is a rich and decadent dessert that adds a rosy twist to this Eid classic that is loved across the Indian sub-continent. The flavours of almond paste and rose syrup gives the much loved seviyaan an exotic touch and pairs well with the creamy texture of condense milk, sugar, vermicelli and ghee roasted crushed nuts.
Turkish Delight / Lokum (Turkey)
Turkish delight or lokum is a family of sweets based on a gel of corn-starch and sugar. Premium contemporary varieties consist largely of finely chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or desiccated coconut encrusted Turkish delight. Traditional varieties of Turkish delight are often flavoured with rosewater, mint, cinnamon bergamot orange, or lemon.
Gulab Jamun Cheesecake (Indian & Pakistani Fusion)
Gulab jamun is a beloved Indian and Pakistani dessert consisting of fried balls of a dough made from milk solids and semolina, soaked with an aromatic syrup spiced with green cardamom, rose water and saffron.
Gulab Jamun cheesecake is a contemporary evolution of this much loved favourite, decadently creamy, full of rich Indian flavors with a sweet surprise on the inside (pieces of gulab jamun). A showstopper dessert for all special occasions and a great gift to share at Eid.
Chocolate Maamoul (Lebanon)
Eid celebrations in Lebanon are considered incomplete without maamoul. These delicious, buttery, shortbread cookies will melt in your mouth and are utterly scrumptious. They are stuffed with dates and crushed nuts and are served in almost every house in Lebanon. Innovative versions of maamoul are now coated with white, milk or dark chocolate and crushed notes to enhance the tantalising taste.
Kue Lapis Cake (Indonesia, Malaysia & Brunei)
Indonesian layer cake or kue lapis legit is an ultra rich and moist butter cake baked layer by layer and is a true labour of love made on festive occasions like Eid. It has warm flavours of mixed spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cardamom, and the subtle hint of vanilla. This unique and delicious Eid dessert is sometimes referred to as a ‘thousand layer cake’, perhaps to emphasise how laborious and time-consuming it is to bake this cake, layer by layer.
Chocolate & Hazelnut Baklava (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan)
Baklava is a classic middle eastern sweet that traditionally features layered phyllo dough, nuts, and syrup or honey. In this version, creamy chocolate-hazelnut spread adds rich, decadent flavour to this nutty, crowd-pleasing pastry that is so popular for gifting to friends and family at Eid.
Kunafa Petit Fours (Middle Eas)
Kunafa is the ultimate Middle Eastern dessert. A luscious, crunchy, and buttery shredded fillo (phyllo) enclosing the most think Ashta cream and drizzled with fragrant simple syrup. Knafeh is usually garnished with pistachios and rose petals. An innovative take on this Eid dessert is making the Kunafa into petit fours and topping them with your choice of chocolate spread, rose or mango flavoured ashta cream.
