The best Spanish pastries to die for

The spaniards in general eat a lot of pastries for breakfast, for tea, for whatever moment they feel like it. 

Spanish bollerias (pastries) are often quite different from the French ones although they look similar. The reason is that they tend to use lard instead of butter. So their texture tend to be less flaky but equally fluffy. Now obviously whether you like them or not depends very much on your preference. I generally love French pastries but they are more for cheat days for me as they can be a bit heavy for everyday consumptions.

I am not saying that lard is any healthier than butter, but theoretically it has only half of the saturated fat contained in butter. Most of the fats in lard is monounsaturated, and it is a great source of linoleic acid / omega-6.

Source: pinning.com

Cruzán (croissant) and Napolitana Chocolate (chocolate croissant) are one of the most popular onces and they can often be found in bars and cafés (including shabby ones as well). They are usually pretty soft, with a shiny sugar glaze on top (that makes them soggy). It's quite nice if you consider it as an airy type of bread. They are usually be eaten on its own locally. Very rarely you may see them being served like a sandwich (which you can tell you are in a touristy cafe). 

Alternatively if you are dying for some buttery croissant, you have to look for "Cruzán París" Paris is the key word ...

Source: Granier

Meanwhile if you are a fan of chocolate or custard, there are pastries that comes in all forms such as Caracola (conch / shell), Trenza (plait), Bretzel (pretzel) etc., often made with lard and glazed. 

Source: saltandoladieta.com

Apart from the typical Napolitana Chocolate (Chocolate croissant), another type of pastry also in the same form is the Napolitana de Jamón y Queso (Ham & Cheese pastry). Usually Jamón York is used (basically the pink ones that you can not trace any part of it to its meat origin). 

Source: miscosillasdecocina.com

Alternatively if you are as greedy as I am and wish to try different things at once, you may opt of the Frivolidades, mini pastries with different fillings such as tuna, paté, sobrasada (a Majorcan spiced paté which is super tasty (and fat)), cheese, etc. It is far lighter than the British sausage rolls with the use of lard. 

Source: nestlecocina.com

Another savoury choice is the Empanadillas, baked crumbly pasty, again made with lard, with a variety of fillings. Empanar is literally the verb of coating something in bread. The typical fillings are tuna, chicken, spinach, tomato, onion etc. 

Empanadillas are also very popular in Latin America and the forms and recipes can be quite different. 

Source: el país

One of my absolute favourite of all is Ensaimada (Catalan: Ensaïmada, a typical fluffy pastry again made with lard coated with icing sugar. You can eat them plain, or you will also see ones that are filled with white / milk / dark chocolate, custard or cream. In fact, saïm means exactly lard in Catalan (which is the official Language apart from Spanish in Mallorca, the origin of this heavenly sweet dough). Ensaïmada literally means "lard-ed". 

Source: yoyomismaymiscosas.com

Another beautiful thing you must not miss is the Lacitos de Miel, twisted puff pastries with honey and condensed milk topped with icing sugar. They are everyone's favourite especially for kids and they are quite easy to make at home as well. The texture is chewy and soft, and they are perfect for breakfast or merienda (afternoon tea).

Source: El Pan de Estrelles 

If you ever come to Valencia, you will see Fartons and Horchata (in Catalan / Valenciano: Orxata) almost at every touristy points especially during the summer. 

Fartons are more like a sweet icing glazed bread based rise with the use of oil and baking powder, or sometimes lard. The texture is very airy and light. 

Source: vueling.com

Source: topvalencia.net

Meanwhile Orxata is a typical summer vegetal milk made with chufa (tiger nut) which is a super food from Africa with plenty fiber, proteins, glucose, minerals and vitamin, contributing to intestinal and cardiovascular health as well as better immune system. With its fiber content, it is also ideal to be included in diets. It tastes a bit like Almond milk but I have to say they can be quite sweet especially the ones sold in the booths on the street.

The origin of Orxata and Fartons is Alboraya which is a small village right next to Valencia city. People love to dip their fartons into their horchata. 

Now obviously there are festival specific pastries that are incredible common which will be covered in future blogs. 

If you are interested on this topic, you may also want to check out my other post about what Spaniards eat for breakfast. I hope you enjoyed my sharing :) 

Lots of Love,

Cherrie