Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Şəkərbura
Crimped half-moon pastries filled with sweet ground nuts and cardamom, the pride of the Azerbaijani Novruz table.
Azerbaijani · advanced · serves 24
prep 60 min · cook 25 min
~358 cal · 7g protein · 33g carbs · 24g fat · 3g fiber · 14g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Şəkərbura are the jewel of the Azerbaijani Novruz (spring new year) table, delicate half-moon pastries filled with sweet ground nuts. Making them is a beloved communal ritual, and the intricate crimped pattern pinched along their edge is a point of pride, said to symbolise ears of wheat and the coming harvest.
A tender dough enriched with butter and egg is rolled thin and filled with ground almonds or hazelnuts blended with sugar and , then folded into crescents and their edges pinched into a decorative rope pattern with special tweezers. Baked until barely golden so they stay pale, they are fragrant, nutty, and delicately sweet, a taste of Azerbaijani spring.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 24
4 cups flour
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups ground almonds or hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp ground
Instructions
1
Make a tender dough with the flour, butter, eggs, and a little milk or water, and rest.
2
Mix the ground nuts with the sugar and cardamom for the filling.
3
Roll the dough thin, cut circles, fill each, and fold into half-moons, crimping the edge into a rope pattern.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the pastries pale in the oven; şəkərbura are meant to stay almost white, so pull them the moment they are set, before they colour.
4
Bake at 350F (180C) until just set and barely coloured, about 20 minutes.
Azerbaijani Novruz tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Baku. Baku cooks on the Caspian, layering saffron rice into plov with a crisp bottom crust and pinching thumbnail-sized dushbara dumplings for broth. Azerbaijani cooking loves sour fruit: pomegranate, quince, and dried plum in savoury stews.
🗺️
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani cuisine sits on the old Silk Road, famous for saffron plov, herb-stuffed kutab, and an abundance of fresh herbs eaten by the handful. Pomegranate, quince, and tea served in pear-shaped glasses define the table.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Azerbaijan
PitiA slow-baked crock stew of lamb, chickpeas, and chestnuts scented with saffron and dried plum.
QutabThin, half-moon griddle breads stuffed with greens and herbs, folded and cooked until charred.
LavangiChicken stuffed with a tangy walnut, onion, and sour-plum paste and roasted, a specialty of Azerbaijan's Caspian south.
Browse all Azerbaijan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Azerbaijan meal
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Azerbaijani ChayDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Şəkərbura?
Crimped half-moon pastries filled with sweet ground nuts and cardamom, the pride of the Azerbaijani Novruz table.
Where does Şəkərbura come from?
Şəkərbura is a Azerbaijani dish from Baku, Azerbaijan.
Can Şəkərbura be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Şəkərbura recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Şəkərbura safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Şəkərbura take to make?
About 85 minutes total (60 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 24.
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