page_title: Czech cuisine
section_title: Sweets
hierarchical_section_title: Czech cuisine / Sweets
caption_attribution_description: English: Christmas cookies in Czech republic. Français&#160;: Biscuits de Noel en Tchequie. Čeština: Vanocni cukrovi v Cesku.
context_page_description: Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries and nations. Many of the cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated within the Czech lands. Contemporary Czech cuisine is more meat-based than in previous periods; the current abundance of farmable meat has enriched its presence in regional cuisine. Traditionally, meat has been reserved for once-weekly consumption, typically on weekends. The body of Czech meals typically consists of two or more courses; the first course is traditionally soup, the second course is the main dish, and the third course can include supplementary courses, such as dessert or compote. In the Czech cuisine, thick soups and many kinds of sauces, both based on stewed or cooked vegetables and meats, often with cream, as well as baked meats with natural sauces, are popular dishes usually accompanied with beer, especially Pilsner, that Czechs consume the most in the world. Czech cuisine is also very strong in sweet main courses and desserts, a unique feature in European cuisines.
context_section_description: Czech coffeehouses are known for their strong coffee, sweet pastries and famous patrons who have included Franz Kafka, Antonin Dvorak, Vaclav Havel and Albert Einstein. Served warm or cold, strudel (optionally topped with ice cream, whipped cream or powdered sugar), is served at most every coffee shop, apple being the most common variety. 
  Sweets filled with fruit, poppy seed and tvaroh (fresh cheese)  are prevalent and come in diverse forms including cakes, koláče, tarts, fritters, and dumplings (ovocné knedlíky). The tradition of making koláče has been preserved in American Czech communities who have settled in the Midwestern United States and Texas. They are laborious to make and usually prepared for special celebrations, births, funerals and they also have a role in Czech wedding traditions where they are distributed to friends and family in place of wedding invitations. The most common fillings are poppy seed, apricots (meruňkové knedlíky) and prunes.
  Dough prepared for dumplings may include potatoes, and while the combination of fruits, jams and cheeses varies among households, plums (švestkové knedlíky), apricots or strawberries (jahodové knedlíky) are common. The finished dumplings are boiled and often garnished with butter, poppy seeds or grated cheese, and a sweetener (traditionally dried and powdered pears, but sugar is used in modern adaptations). Also filled with fruit or jam (and sometimes garnished with poppy seeds) are the Czech crepes called palačinky. Traditional Czech sponge cake (bublanina), served most often for breakfast, is made with cream, eggs and sugar and seasonal fruits, especially whole cherries. 
  Buchty is a yeast pastry similar to koláče; the same filling is wrapped in pieces of dough and baked, but is not visible in the final product.
  Sweet dumplings with custard sauce (buchtičky se šodó) are traditional Czech little buchty without filling. The recipe comes from Czech roots, however, the bordering countries—mainly Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary—consider buchtičky se šodó as food that came from their country.
  Puding is a flavoured custard combined in layers. Puding is served in a glass topped with fruit or shaped in a mould.
  Braided bread (Vánočka) and buns (mazanec) are prepared for Christmas, along with many kinds of biscuits and Christmas sweets (vánoční cukroví). Vánočka and mazanec are the same type of pastry as Jewish Challah.
  Easter Lamb (Velikonoční beránek) is prepared for Easter. The dough is from eggs, sugar and flour. Lemons can be added. It is baked in a mould in the shape of a lamb. It can be decorated.
  Bábovka is from dough similar to that used for Easter Lamb, often with cocoa dough in the middle. It is round, 10–15 cm high, made in a mould and is often served with coffee.
  Lívance are smaller types of pancakes prepared with yeast in the batter. They are eaten with jam or warm forest fruits.
  Vdolky and koblihy—see List of doughnut varieties.
  Perník is made in two ways:
  Like gingerbread, but without ginger. It is decorated with shapes; popular themes are heart shapes, three-dimensional cottages and even whole decorated villages are made—especially in the Pardubice Region where the tradition was established in the 16th century.
  Like a cake with cinnamon and honey.
  Roláda is a sponge cake roulade filled with jam.
  Litá (poured) bublanina is a pancake-like batter poured onto a baking sheet. Pieces of fruit—apples, pears or cherries—measuring 1x2 cm are spread on it and it is then sprinkled with sugar.
  Makovec is a sponge cake with ground poppy seeds.
  Mrkvanec is a sponge cake with grated carrots.
  With the exception of koláče, vánoční cukroví and velikonoční beránek, sweets are consumed with tea or coffee in the late afternoon break, rather than immediately after a main meal.
  Míša is a treat made out of frozen curd; it is popular with children and has been produced since 1961.
caption: Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví)
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