Best Palmeras de Chocolate in Madrid (Chocolate Palmiers) Map
Chocolate palmeras are one of the favorite meriendas of Madrilenians, and in this blog I could not miss my little tribute to one of the city’s most iconic pastries.
Why are palmeras de chocolate so popular in Madrid?
Madrid has a strong pastry tradition, where great pastry chefs have perfected this delicious recipe made with buttery puff pastry and chocolate.
MADRID SWEET TRADITION
It is believed that its origin, as in most traditional pastry recipes, is French, specifically from the 17th century, when good puff pastry, crispy and with quality butter, was perfected and palmiers become famous in France.
The most traditional version, with its peculiar heart-shaped, is made with classic puff pastry, which gives palmeras their characteristic crunchy texture, covered with chocolate. This pastry became popular in Spain when we mixed the French tradition of puff pastry with our Madrilenian love for hot chocolate creating the “palmeras de chocolate”
While French palmiers are delicate and traditional caramelized puff pastry treats, Spanish palmeras de chocolate take things to the next level, with a thicker, fluffier pastry and a generous dark chocolate coating.
PALMERAS DE CHOCOLATE: MADRID’S MOST FAMOUS PASTRY
The Spanish-style chocolate palm tree is believed to come from the idyll of the French “palmieres” or “lunettes”, with their traditional puff pastry, which a good pastry chef decided to adapt to the Spanish taste with a good chocolate coating, and from the best of both worlds this iconic snack was born.
La Mallorquina, a bakery founded in Madrid in 1894, or El Riojano, founded in 1855, are some of the traditional bakeries of the capital, known for having been selling chocolate palmeras for decades, but do not forget that you will find your palmera at your neighborhood bakery.
TOP SPOTS FOR CHOCOLATE PALMERAS IN MADRID:
1. Estela Hojaldre in Barrio de Las Letras
Is the best Palmeta de Chocolate in Madrid made with Cantabrian puff pastry? Estela Hojaldre’s recipe was born in Cantabria, a Spanish Northern region known due to their famous puff pastry (hojaldre) but we can agree is one of the best recipes in Madrid.
This bakery located in Plaza de Jesús, in Barrio de las Letras neighbourhood, and is an obligatory stop to try their milhojas and palmeras. Their puff pastry is crispy, light, and subtly tender.
The quality of its puff pastry makes Estela Hojaldre’s palmiers the best, with good Cantabrian butter taste, bathed with a thin layer of good quality dark chocolate.
If you try Estela Hojaldre’s palmeras, I know you will repeat. When visiting this temple dedicated to puff pastry, founded by the pastry chef Estela Gutierrez, do not forget to taste their milhojas de mantequilla and their brioche hojaldrado, when brioche meets puff pastry.
In the Estela Hojaldre counter you will find mini and big size palmeras, just in case you want to try several types (with and without chocolate).
Price: around 4€.
Subway: Antón Martín
2. Moulin Chocolat in Retiro
Run by the pastry chef Ricardo Velez, Moulin Chocolat is undoubtedly one of the best bakeries in the capital perfect to visit the same day as Retiro Park.
Moulin Chocolat’s Palmetras de Chocolate are definetly a delicatessen. The puff pastry is again crispy, and the layer of melting and creamy chocolate, with intense bitter chocolate achieves perfection.
Undoubtedly, what makes Moulin Chocolat’s palmeras legendary in Madrid is the creaminess and quality of its layer of delicious chocolate, delicate and intense.
I can’t think of a better weekend plan for sweet lovers than taking a stroll through Retiro park and then snacking some Moulin Chocolat pastries
Subway: Príncipe de Vergara
3. The iconic: la palmera de chocolate de La Duquesita (Chamberí)
La Duquesita is a traditional bakery in Madrid, one of the most beautiful and iconic bakeries of the capital, founded in 1914, and run since 2015 by the talented Catalan pastry chef Oriol Balaguer.
Oriol Balaguer decided to keep the most famous recipes of the old La Duquesita bakery giving them an extra touch of quality mixing the traditional of this place with his knowledge creating new cakes and recipes perfect for special occasions.
This beautiful pastry shop, located near the picturesque SGAE building, in the heart of Malasaña neighborhood, is worth a visit to try taste gianduja’s croissants, and of course, their extremerly crispy puff pastry Palmeras de Chocolate bathed in 70% bitter and intense chocolate.
La Duquesita’s palmeras are the crunchiest and most caramelized of this list, its puff pastry dough is thin and slightly caramelized, breaks and crunches in every bite.
Subway: Tribunal
4. Maison Kayser and its authentic French puff pastry
The chain of pastry shops owned by the famous French pastry chef Eric Kayser, founded in 1996 in Paris, has several stores in Madrid where we can enjoy its high quality puff pastries and baked goods.
If anything characterizes Maison Kayser’s puff pastry is its perfect crispy laminate and its intense buttery flavor. The layer of puff pastry is less thin and caramelized than La Duquesita’s one, Mayson Kayser’s puff pastry has the perfect balance between the crunchy and the buttery texture you can look for.
Undoubtedly the hallmark of Maison Kayser’s chocolate palmeras is their intense flavor of high quality French butter. Again, the chocolate is bitter and intense, with a chocolate coating that only covers half of the palm, so it does not hide the delicious flavor of the butter.
If you like chocolate with a touch of salt to accentuate the bitter touch, or if you are one of those who appreciate a good butter with a touch of salt, you should definitely order the chocolate palm with Maldon flaky salt.
If you want to try several types of palmeras , they have palmeras in both sizes mini and large, and Maison Kayser shops work with several home delivery companies for a cozy breakfast at home, or if you prefer to walk to their shops they offer pretty good coffee too.
Subway: Avenida de America/ Principe de Vergara / Santiago Bernabéu
5. Umiko Bake, Palmeras de Chocolate for cocoa and matcha lovers in the City Center
Umiko Bake is a Japanese bakery located in a central street, Calle Los Madrazo, near Gran Via, but quite hidden and not so common in the walks when you come as a tourist to Madrid, so I recommend you get on foot after the mandatory walk along Gran Via to recharge your batteries with one of their sweets.
This bakery, run by Juan Alcaide, a well-known pastry expert in Japanese pastries, is part of Umiko’s proposal, a well-known Japanese restaurant in the city, Umiko bakes i known not only for its mochis and Japanese pastries, but also for its roscón de reyes and its palmeras.
Umiko is an example of enrichness, even if you master Japanese pastries, this is Madrid and they definetly know how two be the best baking traditional recipes from both countries and even mixing both traditions.
Undoubtedly, what characterizes Umiko Bake’s chocolate palmeras is its intense, very intense cocoa bitter flavor, its palmier is bathed (half bathed in fact) in good quality bitter chocolate, and just in case this is not enough, covered also in real bitter cocoa on top of the chocolate.
Cocoa and chocolate, intensity guaranteed, only for dark cocoa lovers.
6. Horno Santa Eulalia. The unknown palmeras that you will love in the Madrid de los Austrias
Walking through the “Madrid de los Austrias” the oldest beautiful neighborhood, and almost by chance, following the recommendation of a friend who knows where to eat well in the capital, I stopped to buy some palmeras in Horno Santa Eulalia, and what a pleasant surprise!
Again good quality homemade puff pastry, in wich you can see the perfection of each of its layers, with butter flavor, and half bath on high quality dark chocolate.
Its price is around 4,5€ and its quality is indisputable. This bakery stands out for its French Style pastries and the attention to detail of its elaborations, which are sold in its beautiful premises located in one of the most beautiful areas of Madrid, with space for a nice merienda in its beautiful premises.
Nearest subway: Opera
7. The famous Palmeritas de Morata
Morata de Tajuña has become one of those places where we all make a pilgrimage to buy their typical sweet, in this case the palmeritas de morata.
This town, located 35 km from Madrid, is so famous because of the palm trees sold in their bakeries that every year in December they celebrate a festival to honor their most famous sweets: La Feria de la Palmerita de Morata, which attracts thousands of visitors every year.
These sweets in mini format “palmeritas”, although currently sold in several bakeries in Morata, have their origin in the Pastelería de la Torre, founded in 1978, and where they perfected the juiciest version of this sweet so “madrileño”.
In my opinion palmeritas of Morata are very tasty, but they are what a manolito (another typical madrilenian sweet) is to a French croissant, a tasty guilty pleasure, but that does not have the most traditional recipe for puff pastry with the canonical French recipe.
Palmeritas de Morata are juicy, very juicy and tender, and you can enjoy them coated in different chocolates and flavors (white chocolate, milk chocolate, lotus, oreo…).
If you can not travel to Morata you can find them in Madrid in stores like:
– Obradores de Madrid: cafeteria/pastry shop where they sell different sweets from the region of Madrid. Located in Alcalde Saiz de Baranda (metro Saiz de Baranda).
-Próximo a Madrid: store located in the Mercado Maravillas, where you can find typical products of the region among which of course are the palms of Morata.
And for you, what are the best chocolate palmeras in Madrid? Do you prefer them with crunchy puff pastry or more juicy?
Let me know by writing in the comments. I look forward to hearing your opinion, to keep tasting chocolate palmeras, and updating this post… and the map!
Wow! this is a wonferful list about Palmeras in Madrid. I need to go and taste some of them. My favourite one is always with chocolate 😋❤️