Pantxineta

Pantxineta is a Basque dessert made from a bun or tart of puff pastry filled with a thick custard cream, topped with almonds and often dusted with icing sugar. The Dictionary of Basque gastronomy credits its creation to the Otaegui patisserie in San Sebastián around 1915, when the city was a summer resort for Spanish royalty, aristocrats and the middle classes and local pastry shops and restaurants took many cues from French cooking. It appears to have been devised as an imitation of French frangipane tarts, but with a thick custard in place of the usual almond filling and an outer layer of puff pastry. It was first called frantxi-pan, a name that quickly became pantxineta in the local Basque dialect. Its principal ingredients are milk, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, almonds and hazelnuts. It is usually served warm, either reheated or straight from the oven, and is sometimes accompanied by hot chocolate syrup poured over the top. It is now considered one of the cornerstone desserts of Basque cuisine.