Pies are technically considered as pastries, because they are considered as pastry dishes composed primarily of the filling, then the crust. Therefore, the apple pie is considered as a pastry -- and Americans love eating it a la mode sometimes, meaning they top off a slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

A long, stretched dough shaped into a knot and then baked is what we call a pretzel. It comes in various forms and sizes actually, and is said to have originated in Europe as early as the medieval times.

A funnel cake is actually a kind of fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar, and topped with whatever the customer wants, commonly some chocolate syrup, cinnamon powder, or even some fruits like berries. If you visit a fair in America, or even in amusement parks and carnivals, they're usually sold there.

The typical croissant is shaped like a crescent, and experts are still ambiguous of its exact origins, but they all point to Europe as its primary source. These days, the typical croissant doesn't exactly follow the full crescent shape of its origins, as it appears as an elongated bread that's popularly consumed for breakfast the world over.

Banana bread is more of a loaf that's baked with banana mashed into the dough. Since it's basically sweet, it is technically considered as a pastry, for sweetness is one requirement for a baked good to be considered a pastry.

Everybody loves their chocolate chip cookies. Whether they come in crumbly texture or chewy ones, young and old alike patronize this very popular pastry as a snack and as a comfort food item.

The danish is a kind of puff pastry, and it indeed hails from Denmark, where it was reportedly brought there by Austrians. It comes in different forms now, usually glazed, and also has different flavorings and variants on the top. Nuts, fruits, berries and jams are some of the popular toppings baked into the danish.

Sometimes it's known as a doughnut, and sometimes it's simply called donut, but this pastry with a hole (or not) remains a worldwide favorite for many people and many nationalities. In the U.S., there is even a "National Doughnut Day" celebrated every June, which commemorates the importance of this food item during World War I in U.S. history, and there's another one celebrated during November as well .

The pastry called cornbread is also categorized as a quick bread, because it doesn't come from a yeasted dough. It's a popular pastry in the southern U.S. where it is commonly served with chili or fried chicken.

Choux pastry is used to create cream puffs, because it's a kind of light pastry. This popular pastry is filled with whipped cream or custard, often enclosed within the pastry but sometimes peeking out in the middle, like a sandwich-looking type of preparation.

You may not know it, but Pop Tarts are actually a kind of toaster pastry since they're filled with some kind of fruit preserves enclosed in a thin and square-shaped pastry. They are usually sold in ready-to-eat packets, and often consumed as snack items.

The Italian island of Sicily lays claim to the popular cannoli, which is a pastry that's shaped like a long tube and filled with some kind of cheesy cream filling inside of it. Outside, they are sprinkled with powdered sugar, and some eateries serve them drizzled with chocolate syrup. It's a fun pastry to eat after having a great Italian meal.

Muffins that have sweet fruity ingredients baked inside of it are also considered pastries, and one popular example of this is the blueberry muffin. These goodies originated in the U.S. and are found in bakeries and cafes worldwide.

The quiche is identified as a pastry because of its pastry crust, which is then filled with a preparation consisting of eggs, cream, cheese and milk as base, then mixed in with some savory fillings that complete the picture. A quiche might consist of a meat or seafood element.

Did you know that Australians and the British call cupcakes as fairy cakes? Perhaps it's because the small version of cakes are fairly nice to consume anywhere and everywhere, be it at parties or watching the movies. Regardless of what it's called, the cupcake is a very proud American-originated pastry.

Key limes are said to be endemic in the Florida Keys, hence the name. It's just a matter of time that somebody used these specific limes to create one of the most popular kinds of pastry pies to come out of the U.S. -- the key lime pie.

Brownies, especially the fudge brownie kind, usually comes in chocolate flavor, sometimes with nuts or chocolate chips on the top, sometimes served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. It is said to have originated in Chicago sometime in the late 1800s.

The typical éclair is usually oblong, filled with custard, and topped with chocolate fondant icing. But these days, there are different types of éclairs available all over the world, and their fillings and topping also vary in flavor now. The custard inside can now be flavored in chocolate, vanilla, coffee, pistachio, and even rum!

People who love their coffee-flavored food should definitely try a slice of the tiramisu, the Italian dessert made up of cocoa, mascarpone cheese, and ladyfingers with coffee flavors. Different Italian regions are laying claim to its origins. Regardless of where it came from, this sweet pastry is now enjoyed by many dessert lovers worldwide.

If you see these triangularly shaped simple-looking pastry, don't judge it by the outside, since the inside is what counts here. The turnover is filled with different kinds of things, and it can serve as either a dessert or a mini-meal, depending on its fillings, which can include fruits or meat.

Ever since Maria Von Trapp sang of her favorite things in "The Sound of Music," one of them being the crisp apple strudel, the world got to know this layered pastry. The sweet-filled pastry originated in Central Europe and in Eastern Europe, and it remains popular there -- and wherever Europeans are in the world, actually, because they also make it in many countries now.

The Italian-French-originated macaron is actually a pastry that's also classified as a confectionery, because it has a meringue base and icing sugar as well as some granulated sugar. The pastry is said to have originated in Venice, Italy and was brought over to France by Catherine De Medici when she married King Henry II at the time of the Renaissance era.

The cheesecake is technically considered as a tart, so it is a form of pastry by that categorization. The New York cheesecake is one of the most widely-recognized cheesecake kinds in the world, which is a very dense sour cream-based tart.

People either love the taste of cinnamon or they don't, and it's one of those "taste tests" that sometimes don't have a middle ground. That is why some people either love the cinnamon roll or bun, and some just don't like it, period. The most popular bakery that sells this is the worldwide brand called Cinnabon, where they sell it glazed.

Yes, the waffle is considered a pastry, one that has long been associated with Belgium where various kinds of waffles exist -- because it is said to have originated there, and in France as well. Try to look for the liège waffle which is the best representative of the authentic Belgian kind of waffle, because the so-called "Belgian waffle" was actually invented in the U.S. already!

If you love Indian food, then chances are, you've already encountered the samosa, or those 3D-like triangular fried pastry that's made up of savory vegetarian filling such as potatoes, lentils, peas and onions. It is usually dipped in chutney.

If you love custard pastries, then you have to try one of the original egg tarts made popularly in parts of Asia, South America, and Europe. The egg custard is encased in a small pastry crust, and this style is said to have Chinese and Portuguese origins. The egg tart is actually sold worldwide now, so that's a treat.

The mooncake is an indispensable pastry that's part of the Mid-Autumn Festival that happens sometime in September or October in various parts of the world that honor this agricultural-based festival season, mainly in China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but also in countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The mooncake is usually small, rounded or squared, filled with red bean paste or lotus seed paste, and it is eaten during this festival because it highlights the Harvest Moon.

The pavlova is said to have been named after the popular Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova when she visited Australia and New Zealand, and both of those countries have been laying claim to its invention for decades. But no matter who concocted it, people still love a slice of this meringue-based dessert cake, especially when it's topped with fruits like kiwi, strawberry, passionfruit, or even pomegranate.

It was only in 2013 when this cronut pastry got hyped in New York City, particularly when Dominique Ansel Bakery came up with it, and the baker had it patented when it became popular. As its name suggests, the pastry is made up of the same ingredients of a croissant, only it resembles a doughnut in shape, complete with the glaze on top. Today, Ansel invents new flavor versions of the cronut to add to his list of bakery creations.

It's easy to see why the popular almond paste-filled U.S. breakfast pastry called bear claw got its name. Think of it as a form of danish, but its shape takes the form of bear claws when the yeast is raised during preparation.

People who flock over to New Orleans' French Quarter always head over to Café du Monde, where they serve the popular beignet pastry. This can be eaten as breakfast or as dessert, and is also French in origin.

The baklava is an ancient pastry that has existed in the Middle East as early as the Ottoman Empire. It's made up of flaky dough called filo or phyllo pastry, poured with honey, and contains nuts. It's delicious to try with tea as a dessert to end a good Mediterranean meal.

We say cream puff, the French say profiterole. Yes, the two are essentially the same, because they're both made of choux pastry shaped like a ball, and filled with the pastry cream in the middle. But profiteroles are sometimes filled with ice cream or whipped cream.

The poppy seed has been a very popular cooking ingredient since the ancient times, so it's no wonder that it will also end up being used in many kinds of pastries around the world. But Europeans actually made it into a full-fledged pastry that stars the poppy seed alone, and not merely as one of the ingredients, thus making the poppy seed roll.

The Cornish pasty is highly identified with Cornwall county located in the southwest part of the UK. it's made up of beef, potatoes and onions folded in a half-circle shape inside a pastry dough, and they are all cooked together.

Did you know that the fig roll is a popular pastry in Egypt and its neighboring areas, where it originated? Of course people still eat it now, and a more commercial descendant is actually the Fig Newton brand.

If you visit any eatery in various Chinese communities or International districts with East Asian roots, chances are you'd run into one of these pineapple bun pastries in there. While its origins are traced back to Hong Kong and Macau in particular, many people of Chinese descent like eating this sweet pastry that actually looks like a pineapple on top.

Pecan pie is very popular in New Orleans, and it is theorized that the French who settled there eons ago were the ones who first made this delicious pie. Regardless of its origins, a slice of this pie is very popularly consumed all over the United States now, and is considered a very American pie.

Many Chinese restaurants specializing in dumplings may have this extraordinary "dumpling" in their menu called the lotus seed bun. The dough is actually filled with lotus seed paste filling, then they steam it like a dumpling instead of baking or frying it like other pastries.