Güllaç
For centuries sweet dishes have marked special occasions, and particularly
celebrations, in Turkish culture, which is why no cuisine in the world features such an
enormous variety of traditional sweetmeats and sweet dishes.
 Baklava, ultimate test of the pastry
cook's skill, is offered to guests on joyful occasions such as weddings and religious
feast days. For circumcision feasts the menu is not complete without zerde, a
pudding made of rice and saffron. The tiny round crisp doughnuts known as lokma
are the sweet for the holy days known as kandil. Pişmaniye, a kind of
candyfloss, required such energetic kneading that guests used to take turns at the task.
When a women had given birth visitors were offered drinks of şerbet
made from red blocks of clot flavored lohusa şekeri, and when the baby got its
first tooth boiled wheat with walnuts and sugar would be served to guests. If a prayer for
rain was called for everyone would contribute some sugar, butter and flour to cook
fragrant helva in great cooking pots, and in the holy month of Muharrem every
household got out its cauldrons once again to cook aşure,
a delicious and nourishing pudding made of beans, chickpeas, wheat and every imaginable
kind of dried fruit and nuts. After a death mourners are served with helva, and forty days
later a gathering for prayers in remembrance of the dead person the guests are given paper
cones of boiled sweets known as akide.
 But among all these and many more varieties of
traditional sweets the one which to me is the lightest and most memorable is rose scented Güllaç.
This special dessert of Ramazan, when people who have been
fasting all day need light and tempting foods is made from tissue thin starch wafers
arranged in layers and soaked in sweetened milk with chopped walnuts almonds or the
clotted cream known as kaymak.
Tradition has it that the cook must recite prayers while kneading the Güllaç dough,
which will not take the correct consistency otherwise. And while dipping the wafers in the
warm milk the Yasin sura should be repeated.
One of the signs that Ramazan is approaching is the large circular packets of Güllaç
wafers each around 45 centimeters in diameter which appear in the shops, sometimes strung
in rows from the ceiling. Each so thin you can almost see through it, the white wafers
with their bubbly surface are also brittle they break so a touch - as delicate as their
flavor. Below is my own version of this traditional dessert.
Güllaç With Cream Topping
Ingredients: 4 cups milk (1 litter), 10 Güllaç wafers, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup
rose water, 100 gr. walnuts
For the topping: 2 cups milk, ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 and
½ cups whipped cream, 4 teaspoons vanilla sugar
To decorate: You may use ground pistachios and strawberries, pomegranates,
cherries or similar fruits depending on the season.
Boil up 4 cups of milk with 2 cups of sugar. Place one of the Güllaç wafers in a ver
large round tray to fit (if this is not among your kitchen equipment, use any large dish
and break the wafers into pieces) and pour a ladleful of boiling milk over. Repeat for
three of the wafers, then spinkle half the coarsely chopped walnuts over. Continue with
the remaining chopped walnuts over. Continue with the remaining three wafers. Pouring
ladleful of sweetened milk over each. Pour over remaining milk and rose water.
Mix 2 cups and ½ cup of sugar, and gradually stir in 2 cups of milk. Place over a low
heat, and stirring constantly bring to the boil . Remove from the heat and allow to cool,
stirring occasionally.
Mix in the whipped cream (a packet of whipped cream mix can be substituted) and vanilla
sugar, then heat with an electric mixer until frothy. Pour over the Güllaç and smooth
over. Decorate with strawberry halves of pomegranates (if in season) and ground pistachio
nuts. Leave to cool in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours before cutting into squares
then serve.
Note: If preferred plain the Güllaç may be prepared without the
cream topping.
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