(Source: http://www.svetochtour.ru/ekskursiya)

What sweets did our great-grandparents eat on holidays? What they were cooked from and how they were served? What are the traditions of tea drinking in Russia? Answers on all questions you can find in one of the historic houses in Zvenigorod near Moscow. The most sweet and cozy museum of ancient Russian delicacies is probably located there.

The Museum of Russian dessert appeared in the city two years ago thanks to the efforts of artist Tatyana Féin and her team. A word “authors” is excellently good to this museum as the founder’s handwriting is visible in everything from mouthwatering scenes of the pictures on the walls and original lamps to the collection of old kitchen utensils.

The mansion, where the museum is housed (it is recently moved here from a modern building on the main street), built in the late XIX century and is the object of cultural heritage. Once it belonged to the merchant's wife Fokina, who sold flour, tea, sugar and other goods typical of the petty shops.

Tea and dessert exposition looks very organic here. Now all the museum collection occupies two rooms. In bigger rooms along the walls beautifully decorated antique cupboards are arranged. They are filled with ancient bagatelles: pots, teapots, dried herbs, waxworks of sweets with handwritten explanations and cooking recipes.

It is better to book tours by the museum in advance, as well as the master classes that are held for children and adults. A mandatory bonus to the tour is a cup of tea with a treacle cake.

During the master classes they show to tourists how to bake round cracknels, cakes from sourdough and sugar free desserts. They tell how came the expression "to arrive at one’s finger-ends" and "tough cookie". In the museum’s shop they sell herbal tea, coffee and, certainly, sweets made according to traditional recipes, without preservatives and colorings.

The distributors for the museum are small productions from Tula and Smolensk regions, as well as the tiny Old Believer food company from Moscow. The most useful souvenir from the museum is two brochures with recipes to try to cook the historic dessert at home. Open hours: from 10a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.