Qazvin's Traditional Sweets land of homemade confections

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In this article, I want to talk about the most delicious homemade sweets you’d ever come across! As I mentioned in our previous article, Qazvin traditional food, this province is located in the fertile lands of Iran, so it’s been the best place to grow all kinds of fruit and nuts for years. As a result, you can find a trace of fruit and nuts on every traditional food and confection. The variety, color, and aroma of every single one of them make the city a paradise for sweet lovers. Some of them like Nan-e Chaii (literally tea bread) are consumed daily next to an afternoon tea. But some of them like Baklava (the flagship of sweets) are served mostly at parties, formal occasions, or cafes. Always eat them with a tasty cup of Persian tea; that’s the key part. If you are planning to travel to Qazvin, or you are looking to buy souvenirs, these special and delicious sweets is a perfect choice.

Qazvin special Baklava

Every city in Iran has its special baklava (baqlava), but Qazvin has the most popular and aromatic one. The people of Qazvin usually bake this popular sweet for Nowruz (new year’s party); so it’s the best time to travel to Qazvin and have a taste of this delicate sweet. You can also order it in most restaurants and cafes anytime you want, but some of them may use food coloring instead of nuts. So ask the locals to find the best café or confectionary to buy it.

It’s rather an expensive sweet because it is made of Qazvin’s green pistachio, almond, and saffron. Its other ingredients are cardamom powder, egg yolk, flour, sugar, rose water, and special syrup. Locals believe that Qazvin’s green pistachio is one of a kind and since every layer of this baklava is a product of Qazvin Gardens, it’s the flagship of sweets in the city.

Sharbati Cake

It’s a type of sponge cake that is flavored with saffron syrup and garnished with slivered pistachios, almonds, and coconut powder. This type of cake is only baked in Qazvin and is usually served at burial rites (funeral).

Paderazi

Paderazi, like most sweets in Qazvin Province, has a semisweet flavor and is served with tea or dark coffee. It is made of three types of flour: wheat flour, chickpea flour, and rice flour along with egg, ginger powder, vanilla, saffron, sesame, powdered sugar, milk, and oil. It is usually prepared in three different colors and flavors for Nowruz.

Nan-e Chaii (tea bread)

The second most popular sweet in Qazvin is Nan-e Chaii. Flour, butter, eggs, powdered sugar, sesame, saffron, oil, cardamom powder, yogurt, and baking soda are used to make this delicious dessert. Baking Nan-e chai (also noon chai and nan-e chaie) is also common in Hamedan Province. Its dough is very soft and delicate and is covered with butter therefore should be consumed after preparation or it’ll stale. As the name implies, this sweet is mostly used with tea. If you are looking for a good souvenir for your friends; We recommend buying Qazvin traditional Nan-e Chai.

Nan-e Charkhi

As the name implies, this type of sweet is made with Charkh-e Gosht (Persian term for meat grinder). It is usually made with the manual meat grinder but other types can do too. In this way, the proper grinding plate is attached to the device, then the dough is cut into pieces after fully minced and placed in the oven. Not only the dough, but the other ingredients are also minced. It consists of rice flour, white flour, solid oil, sugar powder, egg, yogurt, baking powder, cardamom powder, and pistachio powder. One of the important points is that this sweet has a long shelf life which makes it a perfect choice for buying souvenir.

Nan-e Nokhodi (chickpea bread)

Many also call it Nan-e Nokhodchi! I don’t know why! Many people may not know that this special sweet is originally from Qazvin because the suffix (chi) that is added to this sweet by mistake causes this false belief that this sweet is one of the products of our Azeri-speaking cities, while it was first made in Qazvin. Pea flour, solid oil, powdered sugar, white flour, cardamom powder, egg yolk, and sliced pistachios are used to bake this sweet.

Nan-e Berenji (rice bread)

This sweet is also made in Kermanshah (a city in the west of Iran). Although they are similar in appearance, the taste is different. Rice flour, powdered sugar, solid oil, egg, cardamom powder, and rose water are used to prepare this delicious dessert.

Nan-e Qandi (sugar bread)

This sweet has an extraordinary taste and aroma and is usually served with tea. To prepare this sweet, flour, baking powder, cardamom powder, solid oil, and powdered sugar are used.

Nan-e Nazok (thin bread)

Nan-e Nazok, also called Bisak (Bisaq) by the locals, is another traditional sweet that has three types: sesame, walnut, and almond. White flour, sugar powder, egg, solid oil, vanilla, yogurt, melted butter, salt, baking powder, sourdough powder, walnut powder, pistachio powder, saffron, and sesame are used to prepare this wonderful sweet.

Atabaki

Atabaki or Valiahdi (royal) sweet is another famous sweet of Qazvin that is baked in two colors and flavors. Its semisweet taste makes the bitterness of tea more pleasant. Rice flour, solid oil, egg, powdered sugar are its ingredients. This sweet has a long shelf life and therefore can be a good choice for souvenirs.

Agerdak Bread

Agardak bread is prepared quickly and has an extraordinary aroma and taste. This bread is fried in oil and therefore has high calories. Egg, milk, sugar, liquid oil, flour, cinnamon, sourdough, salt, turmeric, and saffron are used to bake Agardak bread, which is also common in other cities, especially Azeri-speaking ones.

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