Huesca City Council has launched the second national competition to find the best butter palmera in Spain.
The contest is open to professional bakeries and pastry shops across the country. It will take place on Sunday, October 18, as part of the third edition of the Huesca es Dulce fair.
Competitors will vie for honours in two distinct categories, covering the best plain butter palmera and the best chocolate butter palmera. The winning establishment in each discipline will receive 1,500 euros and a distinctive badge to display on their premises.
Palmeras are a traditional Spanish puff pastry baked in the shape of a palm leaf or butterfly. The classic recipe relies on layers of butter and dough, while the chocolate variety features a sweet coating. Huesca is a city in the northeastern Spanish region of Aragon.
Economic impact on bakeries
The financial reward comes alongside a significant boost in business profile. During the inaugural competition last year, the top prize went to Pastelería Tolosana. The bakery, located in Almudévar near the provincial capital of Huesca, quadrupled its palmera sales after securing the national recognition.
Registration remains open until 2:00 PM on October 9. Establishments can submit their applications through the Huesca City Council electronic headquarters or by email. To qualify, participants must make their own products and operate a physical point of sale or collection point. Competitors can choose to enter a single category or compete in both.
Strict ingredient rules
Bakers entering the competition face stringent conditions regarding their recipes. Each participant must deliver six palmeras for every category they enter.
For the traditional category, the rules dictate that butter must be the only fat used in the dough. Margarine and other fat alternatives are strictly prohibited. The judges will also disqualify any entries containing added flavorings, spices, toppings or fillings.
The chocolate category maintains the same foundational requirements for the pastry base. However, these entries must be coated exclusively with pure couvertures crafted from cocoa derivatives.
Blind tasting process
Competitors must deliver their baked goods on the morning of October 18, between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM. Event organizers will then transfer the pastries into identical boxes, removing any identifying marks to ensure complete anonymity before the judges see them.
A panel of five industry professionals will conduct a blind tasting later that morning, running from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. They will evaluate the entries without knowing which bakery produced them.
For the plain butter category, the jury will score the pastries based on flavor, puff pastry quality, crunchiness, caramelization, uniformity and general appearance. The chocolate category judging will incorporate those same criteria, while also evaluating the quality of the chocolate coating and the overall balance between the dough and the sweet exterior.
The organizers will announce the winners that same evening. A gala event will begin at 8:00 PM in the Blue Room of the Huesca Casino, where the champions will be named and the prize money awarded.
