Şekerpare is the Turkish semolina cookie topped with nuts and soaked in sugar syrup.
The small cookies are baked until lightly golden, then covered with syrup so they become tender and richly sweet while retaining a slightly crumbly texture. A nut, often a hazelnut or almond, is commonly placed on top before baking.
Şekerpare is a familiar dessert in Turkish cuisine and is especially popular during Ramadan, when syrupy sweets frequently appear on iftar tables. Its name comes from Ottoman Turkish and combines words of Arabic and Persian origin meaning “sweet piece.”
The dessert is sometimes mixed up with revani, another Turkish syrup dessert made primarily from semolina. Revani is usually baked as a cake and cut into squares or diamonds, whereas şekerpare consists of individual cookies. Historical references describe a similar syrupy dessert as early as the second half of the 19th century.