6 Traditional Christmas Desserts & Dishes at Christmas in Cyprus

Besides presents, decorations and celebrations, Christmas is a time for special sweets and dishes in Cyprus! Let’s take a look at some traditional sweets and dishes made in every household in Cyprus during Christmas.

Kourabiedes look like round almond-made shortbread with a pinch of brandy, vanilla, mastika or rose water for extra flavour. In some parts of Cyprus and Greece, Christmas kourabiedes are sometimes decorated with a clove embedded in every biscuit. Kourabiedes are shaped either into balls or oval-shaped biscuits and are baked till they are slightly golden. They are then dipped in icing sugar while still hot which forms a rich butter-sugary coating. They are yummy!

Melomakarona are honey cookies stuffed with dates and nuts which are typically made during Christmas. Melomakarona are typically made of flour or semolina, orange zest, fresh orange juice, sugar, cognac, cinnamon and olive oil. When rolled into cookies they are filled with grounded walnuts. After they have been baked, the cookies are soaked in hot syrup made up of honey and sugar that has been dissolved in water. Finally, they are decorated with grounded walnuts.

On Christmas Eve women in Cyprus bake a unique kneaded bread called gennopitta (the birth pie). The symbolic bread, which metaphorically stands for the birth of Christ, is also called Christopsomo and is eaten on Christmas day. It is a sweet yeast-made bread and is usually decorated with the symbol of the cross.

After going to church on Christmas day, families and friends return home and have a festive soup. The soup they eat is usually the famous augolemoni (egg-lemon soup) or the soup of frumenty. The soup is eaten in the morning, preparing the appetite for Christmas lunch buffet that will follow!

Lots and lots of traditional dishes decorate the Christmas table on Christmas day but Souvla is the protagonist in every Cypriot home! Souvla is pork, lamb and chicken meat cooked on charcoal!

Vasilopitta (Basil Cake) is a traditional cake made on the 1st of January every year in honour of Ayios Vasilis. The cake is cut into pieces and every member of the family chooses a piece. While preparing the cake, the mother or grandmother hides a coin in it. The person who finds the coin in their piece of cake is believed he or she will be blessed with lots of luck throughout the year.

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