Sesame into a bar resembling peanut brittle and sold in stores and street corners. Sesame is a popular and essential ingredient in many Middle Eastern cuisines. Sesame seeds are made into a paste called "tahini" (used in various ways, including "hummus bi tahini") and the Middle Eastern confection "halvah". Ground and processed, the seed is also used in sweet confections. Sesame is also a common component of the Levantine spice mixture "za'atar", popular all throughout the Middle East. In South Asian, Middle Eastern, and East Asian cuisines, popular confectionery are made from sesame mixed with honey or syrup and roasted into
Almond paste claw pastry. In Scandinavia almond paste is used extensively, in various pastries and cookies. In Sweden (where it is known as mandelmassa) it is used in biscuits, muffins and buns and as a filling in the traditional spring season pastry semla and is used in Easter and Christmas sweets. In Denmark (where it is known as marcipan or mandelmasse), almond paste is used in several pastries, for example as a filling in the Danish traditional pastry "kringle". In the Netherlands, almond paste (called "amandelspijs") is used in "gevulde speculaas" (stuffed brown-spiced biscuit) and banket. It is used as filling in