11 Ultimate Cypriot Pastries You Have to Try
Cyprus is heaven for food lovers, offering generous amounts of delicious dishes, hearty pastries and sweet desserts. A highlight of Cypriot culture, sharing food is a cherished ritual inviting families, friends and strangers to taste the island’s products. It’s customary to be offered snacks while exploring the island, usually by grandmothers with freshly baked goods, so you certainly won’t go hungry.
Besides traditional cooked meals, pastries make up an essential part of Cypriot gastronomy. Consumed during all hours of the day as a breakfast or afternoon snack, it is common for people to bring pastries to a house they’re visiting or to offer them to friends on their birthday.
Pastries are found at local street food vendors or at one of the many bakeries around the island.
Halloumi pie – Halloumopitta
Made with Cyprus’s national cheese, halloumi, this pastry uses flour, mint and eggs. Halloumoti comes in various shapes and sizes including a round bread-like or a log-shaped pastry topped off with sesame seeds. The soft white cheese can also be stuffed in square-shaped pastry or grated to create a fluffy texture.
Olive pie – Eliopitta
Similar in shape to halloumiti is eliopitta, an olive stuffed pastry with mint and finely cut onions. There are made in different shapes, such as a half-crescent moon, a roll or a round cake. Find them in bite sizes or in bigger individual pieces.
Cheese pie – Tiropitta
A popular pastry in Cyprus, tiropitta’s cheese-filling holds different recipes and consistencies. Cypriot cheese pies use halloumi cheese whereas Greek cheese pies are made from feta cheese. Another difference between the two is that the Cypriot recipe can be shaped as a salty cake or a triangular phyllo pastry. Greek cheese pies usually follow the traditional crunchy, buttered phyllo layers in triangles or squares.
Sweet Tahini pie – Tahinopitta
Aside from the popular tahini dip, tahini is the main ingredient for tahinopitta, a sweet pie made with flour, sugar, cinnamon and yeast. Since the recipe excludes eggs, oil and dairy, it is a popular snack during Easter lent and is considered vegan. Few households prepare them nowadays, so you’re more likely to find them at bakeries.
Bourekia
Try three types of bourekia, one for each appetite. Sweet bourekia are a soft dough filled with anari cheese and cinnamon or cream, topped off with icing sugar. Savoury bourekia contain halloumi, mushroom or minced meat in puff pastry which is deep fried until both sides are golden.
Flaounes
A traditional Easter pie, flaounes are filled with cheese and raisins prepared by many bakeries and in numerous households during the Holy Week. It’s common that family members gather to prepare the flaounes over a two day period as the dough needs to rest overnight. The filling includes a mix of cheeses (mainly halloumi) and herbs such as mahleb, mastic, cinnamon and mint. Sesame seeds sprinkled on top finish off this popular Cypriot pie.
Lady Fingers – Daktyla
This sweet pastry, drenched in syrup, has an interesting name as it literally means ‘fingers’. Filled with ground almonds and cinnamon, the dough is then rolled into thin elongated bites. The sugary syrup, with hints of lemon juice and citrus blossom water, covers the lady fingers, giving it a sticky, sweet flavour.
Sausage rolls – Loukanikopitta
This sausage roll is ideal for those craving some meat in their pastry hunt. Some bakeries stuff them with cheese and sprinkle sesame seeds on top, though the traditional recipe calls for simpler flavour.
Pumpkin pies – Kolokotes
Neither sweet nor savoury, these pies can be eaten for breakfast or midday snack. Besides diced pumpkins, kolokotes include rice, raisins, almonds and cinnamon and are ideal during the fasting period of Christmas or Easter as they’re vegan (unless an egg wash coat is used for a golden look).
Spinach pies – Spanakopites
Photo by Lew Eliacopoulos
Popular amongst vegetarians, this hearty pie consists of spinach, feta cheese, egg and onion, wrapped in crunchy layers of phyllo dough. It’s perfect for a light lunch with a refreshing drink.
Shiamishi
Usually found at fairs and as name-day treats, shiamishi is another phyllo pastry with aromatic semolina cream and orange blossom water that’s deep fried until golden brown. Icing sugar completes it for an ever sweeter taste.
The perfect accompaniment to these pastries is a Cypriot coffee or a fresh juice. Enjoy!
