Could anything be more classic than a chocolate chip cookie? Yes, a hundred times yes! Take your sweet tooth on a journey around the world and discover the sugary treats you didn’t know you needed.
1. Chin Chin
Best place to eat them: Nigeria
Small enough to eat by the handful, chin chin is a dangerously addictive snack. Sweet pastry dough spiced with nutmeg is shaped into bite-sized squares or swirls, then fried until golden brown.
2. Laddoo
Best place to eat them: India
Laddoo (or laddu) is a rich sweet made with ghee, flour, sugar, and a wide range of toppings and ingredients. Decadent would be putting it lightly! Finding your favourite flavour might take forever, but the least you can do is try.
3. Almond Cookies
Best place to eat them: China
Lunar New Year celebrations are the perfect time to enjoy these crunchy, crumbly confections. In Macau bakeries, you might find almond cookies alongside pasteis de nata, culinary remnants of the region’s past as a Portuguese colony.
4. Alfajores
Best place to eat them: Argentina
Sandwich two cookies around a creamy dulce de leche filling and dunk it all in powdered sugar or chocolate to sweeten the deal. Stop! You had us at dulce de leche. Pair them with a special occasion – or just a nice cup of coffee.
5. Brigadeiro
Best place to eat them: Brazil
If the sight of chocolate can send you into a frenzy, meet the indulgent brigadeiro. Melt in your mouth cocoa mixed with condensed milk is formed into a ball, then rolled in chocolate sprinkles and chilled.
6. Hamantash
Best place to eat them: Israel
A classic treat during Purim, Hamantaschen (or “Haman’s pockets”) are light triangular pastries boasting colourful fillings. Whether you enjoy a hamantash with fruit marmalade, poppy seeds, cheese, or caramel, it’s impossible to go wrong.
7. Macarons
Best place to eat them: France
If you can imagine what it’s like to eat a tiny, vividly coloured cloud, you’ll know what it’s like to nibble on Parisian macarons. The meringue-based confections are deceptively light and come in more artisanal flavours than you can wrap your head around.
When we asked our Flighties around the globe about their favourite place in France to try macarons, many hands shot up to recommend Pierre Hermé because of its wide selection of flavours.
8. Kourambiethes
Best place to eat them: Greece
When December rolls around, the aroma of kourambiethes baking fills many a γιαγια’s kitchen. Soft, dry, and showered in powdered sugar, these Greek shortbread cookies either feature a single almond pressed into each ball of dough or almond flour to give the whole batch a nostalgic nutty taste.
9. Stroopwafel
Best place to eat them: The Netherlands
Sweet like a honeycomb, and sticky like one too, stroopwafels are a dessert obsession in the making. The secret to eating them? Place your stroopwafel cookie over a piping hot cappuccino to soften the caramel filling between the two thin wafers. Or do like Flightie, Gregory Ryan of Kitchener did and eat them fresh on a food tour of Amsterdam Central station with Urban Adventures.
10. Gingerbread House
Best place to eat them: Germany
Regardless of whether these art projects turned snacks remind you of the most wonderful time of the year or of a certain Grimm’s fairytale about kidnapping and cannibalism, there’s no denying that lebkuchenhauser have an aroma that’s just so darn good.
Sweetheart, don’t even get us started about our favourite cakes and favourite chocolates across the globe! Our Expert Travellers can help you create a foodie trip that’s anything but cookie-cutter. Preheat your passports, then give us a ring at 1 877 967 5302 anytime to get started.