Balkan hurmašice for Christmas

We are always looking for intriguing Christmas recipes, particularly where sweets are concerned, and for our latest holiday treat we turn to the Balkans, an area little visited on our ETW journey. In Bosnia and other neighboring areas, Christmas dessert is synonymous with hurmašice, a small, sweet vanilla and walnut cake soaked in lemon-flavored sugar syrup. These pastries remind us of the Indian Gulab Jamun, or Greek Loukoumades, also little cakes smothered in a sweet syrup. It turns out that hurmašice / hurmašica is similar to (or possibly a descendant of) the Turkish Kalburabastı. One of the signature features of hurmašice is the series of indentations on its top, made by pressing down on the cake with a grater. You can check out recipes from Recipes by Nana, Mediterranean and Me, and SBS to make your own, or if you would like step-by-step help, check out the video from Ingrid in Bosnia below. If you celebrate, we hope your Christmas is full of delicious sweets!