Laskonky

The story

Laskonky are pairs of coconut meringue shells joined with a rich cream, and the word exists in both Czech and Slovak. VisitCzechia presents them as the Czech answer to the French macaron, only bigger, made from whipped egg whites and grated coconut instead of almond flour, so they contain no wheat flour. In Czech cukrárny, the confectioners' shops, the two halves are joined with chocolate, nut, caramel or coffee cream, as the English-language site Expats.cz notes in its guide to the pastry case. The name sounds like láska, love, but the etymologist Vít Boček, in a paper for a 2017 etymological symposium in Brno, traces it instead to a shortened form of laskomin(k)a, an old word for appetite, desire or a delicacy, which goes back to Common Slavonic oskomina. Valentine's Day itself came to Slovakia from abroad. The Slovak Spectator calls it a popular holiday of Anglo-Saxon origin and reports an Ipsos survey for UniCredit Bank in which four fifths of Slovaks said they celebrate it, with sweets and chocolates making up 34 percent of their gifts, ahead of restaurant invitations at 21 percent. Fill the shells the day before, since the cream needs hours in the refrigerator to set, and serve them cold with strong coffee.