sushka

plural sushkas · plural sushki · alternative sooshka

1. A traditional Eastern European small, crunchy, mildly sweet bread ring eaten for dessert, usually with tea or coffee.

   Soviet sorts of baranka-type articles, such as sushkas, can be kept for many months without going stale.

   1971, Foreign Trade, U.S.S.R. Ministry of Foreign Trade, page 42, columns 1–2

   5 more examples

   Нас было двадцать шесть человек — двадцать шесть живых машин, запертых в сыром подвале, где мы с утра до вечера месили тесто, делая крендели и сушки.

   [1920], Maxim Gorky [pseudonym; Alexey Maximovich Pyeshkov], translated by R[ochelle] S[lavyanskaia] Townsend, “Twenty-Six Men and a Girl”, in John A[lexander] Hammerton, editor, The Masterpiece Library of Short Stories: The Thousand Best Complete Tales of all Times and all Countries, volume XIII (Russian, Etc.), London: The Educational Book Company Limited, page 80

   And after all, for beer we require traditional snacks: Caspian roaches, crawfish, hard-boiled eggs, not to mention peas, sushkas, black zwiebacks...

   1966, Translations on Soviet Law and Social Regulations, U.S. Department of Commerce, Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Joint Publications Research Service, page 16

   Some of the sushkas, which are thin dry rings of dough were even named after famous writers and poets who showed a predilection for them. There were vanilla sushkas named after Pushkin, sushkas made with mustard oil named after Lermontov, sushkas with poppy seeds that bore the name of Chekhov and salt ones that were liked by Yesenin.

   1990, “Breads”, in Culture and Life, U.S.S.R. Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS), page 47, column 1

   Beer took up most of the small space, but they also had cold cuts—that must have been the source of the smell—and, more important, what I was looking for: sushki. These were round, crunchy, slightly sweet bread rings. Because they were a little sweet you could have them with tea, but because they weren’t too sweet you could also have them with beer. I bought two packets, one with poppy seeds, one without. Unlike everything else in the new Russia, sushki were still cheap.

   2018, Keith Gessen, A Terrible Country: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN, page 30

   He dropped the sack of flour next to the table and went to inspect the tray of hot sushki. […] Alexey lowered the knife and placed two sushki on a porcelain plate, which he set in front of Lulu.

   2019, Ann Charles, Sam Lucky, Life at the Coffin Joint (Deadwood Undertaker; 1), →ISBN