Rosette (fritter)

Rosettes are thin, crispy fritters that resemble cookies, made using metal molds and found across many cultures. Their defining feature is a lacy pattern. The batter typically combines wheat flour, eggs, sugar, and whole milk. To shape them, a rosette iron—a tool with a long handle and metal forms like stars, flowers, snowflakes, or Christmas trees—is heated in hot oil, dipped into the batter, then returned to the oil. Once partially cooked, the batter releases from the mold and is flipped to finish. They are often topped with sugar or honey, or have their edges dipped in frosting. This technique appears in a 19th-century Ottoman cookbook, *Aşçı başı*. In Kerala, India, a version called Achappam uses rice flour instead. Swedish timbales can be made from the same batter using a timbale mold, and filled with savory items like creamed chicken and mushrooms.

These fritters appear in northern Europe, Iran, Turkey, and Sri Lanka. In Nordic countries, they are known as rosetbakkelse (Denmark), rosetti (Finland), rosettbakkels or rosetter (Norway), and struvor (Sweden). They are popular in the United States among families with Scandinavian roots. In Portugal’s Alentejo region, they are called filhós de forma or filhós de floreta, flavored with port and orange juice, and are a Christmas treat. Spain has flores manchegas, Mexico has buñuelos de viento. In the Middle East and western Asia, they appear as kulcha-e-panjerei (Afghanistan), shirini panjerei (Iran), demir tatlisi (Turkey), and chebbak el-janna (Tunisia). They are typical of Anglo-Indian cuisine, especially among Indian Christians at Christmas, where they are called rose cookies or rose biscuits. Regional Indian names include fuljhuri pitha (Bangla), achappam (Malayalam), mahughara khaja (Odia), acchu murukku (Tamil), kokis (Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamil), and gulabi puvvulu (Telugu). In Cantonese, they are tong wan, and were introduced to Hawaii as Chinese pretzels. In Malaysia, they are kuih Loyang.