Ingredients
- 220ml Milk
- 150ml Olive Oil
- 300g Flour
- 3 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
For the Sugar Water
- 220g Sugar
- 440ml Water
Directions
Albanian Tespixhe is one of my favourite Albanian dessert recipes, a rich sugary cake (or you could say biscuit). Being more of a baked dough, it has a little nutty texture (although no nuts) and is really soft.
The best part about making this dessert recipe is the pattern marking, you can make your own stamp, keep it traditional or like me, I love letting my daughter do it for me – young minds can be so creative.
I find that Olive oil is the best oil to use but in Albanian a normal vegetable oil is used in nearly all Albanian recipes.
Steps
1 Done | Make the DoughMix together the milk, oil, soda and 3 tablespoons of sugar over a medium heat. Once the mixture starts to bubble, remove from the heat add the flour and mix into a soft dough. |
2 Done | Grease with Oil a baking tray (traditionally a circle tray is used) - about 30cm is best and then roll the dough around the tray to give a smooth texture then press the dough into the tray. Be sure to get into all the edge and the best thickness is just less then 1cm - equally across the whole tray. |
3 Done | Traditionally triangle and dot patterns are pressed into the dough - not all the way through but deep. I like to experiment here to give my Albanian Tespixhe my own personal touch. |
4 Done | BakeBake in the oven on 180 degrees until golden - around 25 minutes |
5 Done | Make and use the Sugar WaterWhile baking, make the sugar water by mixing the water and cup of sugar together over a medium heat. Once boiling and the water is dissolved remove from the heat to cool. Once you remove the Tespixhe form the oven, cover with the sugar water. You want enough to completely cover and about 1cm up the tray to soak into the baked dough while cooling. Once cool, refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. |
7 Comments Hide Comments
Hello,
While searching around the web for something, I have found by accident your blog. Being an Albanian, I was flattered to read about our traditional recipes written by a foreigner. I was surprised to see a lot of recipes that are unfamiliar to me too, like this one you’ve posted. It seams easy and tasty so I’m going to try this version.
Thanks for spreading our beautiful cuisine. You’ve got a new follower now 🙂
Hi Nevila,
Thank you so much for your kind words!
I love cooking Albanian food and helping others to cook it too – so many people now visit Albania for short breaks, hiking and coach tours that I wanted these people to be able to cook Albanian recipes and eat the food taking them back to their memories of the visit.
Hi appreciate your website. I am married to a wonderful Albanian man for over 30 years. My mother in law always made tespixhe,happy you posted the recipe. She passed away 2 years ago. I was wondering if you ever heard of a dessert called Sara Lee. I do not know the correct Albanian spelling. My husband ate it over 35 years ago in Montenego. He said its kind of like Baklava but better. I dont know anyone who knows how or what this is only that it was so good my husband can still remember the taste. I wish I could surprise him and make it for him. Please post the recipe if you know how to make it.
Thank you so much for your time and love for the Albanian culture so nice to be able to share it with everyone.
Linda
Thank you so much for your comment, the Albania culture is a beautiful thing and tourism is picking up well which is exciting to see! I’ve been married to my husband for 11 years this year. My mother in law always makes Albanian Tespixhe too, I appreciate when you eat food it brings back memories of people 🙂
Sara Lee is actually an american brand name for a dessert maker product, so it’s not the actual dessert name. I think it is mainly known for pound cake. From what you’ve told me it’s not easy to work it out i’m afraid. There is a coy of a sara lee cake done in the Balkans which is basically a pound cake soaked in sugar water, so similar to Ravani. Do you know if it had any nuts? Or was is cake or a pastry pudding? Did it have cream? This may help me try to figure it some more 🙂
Hi Linda,
Yes, in Montenegto there is what you call “Sara Lee”. From what I know you need to make several filo dough like 50 up to 100 I have heard. I’m not exactly sure how it is made but I were will ask family. My family is from Ulqin so this is usually made when someone is getting married or for holidays.
My friend just returned from a vacation in Albania. He has been raving about a dessert he had there called Oshaf. He said it’s the most delicious dessert he has ever eaten. Does anyone know where I can find a recipe for it?
Hi! I really appreciated your recipe and it looks super delicious. I also have a friend who coocked it for me one day and I agree saying that it’s amazing. Just for curiosity, do you know the history of this sweet? Is it cooked for some special festivities or not?