Corbatas ('bow ties') are a puff-pastry sweet from Unquera, a small town in Cantabria at the mouth of the Deva river, on the border with Asturias. They are said to have been created in the 1950s at the Casa Canal pastry shop, where the Canal family experimented with puff pastry. Rolled and twisted into a bow-tie shape, then glazed with sugar and almonds, they became a specialty sold to travellers passing through the town.
A golden, flaky, twisted pastry glazed with sticky syrup. The dough is layered like puff pastry; the glaze is sweet and slightly sticky. Eaten with coffee, it crumbles and dissolves.
The dough is laminated (folded multiple times with butter between layers) to create flakiness. The syrup glaze (sugar and water, boiled to thread stage) sets on the warm pastry, creating a shiny, slightly crunchy coating.
Variations
Some fill them with cream; the size varies; some add lemon zest to the dough.
On the Palate
Where Corbatas Unamuno sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
6 steps · 45 min active + 15 min waiting
- 120 min
Make a laminated dough: flour, butter, water; fold 4 times.
Watch outKeep the butter cold and the dough chilled between folds — if the butter melts into the dough it won't layer, and the pastry bakes dense instead of flaky.
- 25 min
Roll thin; cut into strips.
- 35 min
Tie each strip into a loose knot (bow-tie shape).
- 415 min
Bake at 200°C for 15 min until golden.
Watch outBake until evenly deep gold and the layers have puffed and set — pull them pale and the inside stays raw and won't crisp.
- 55 min
Make syrup: boil sugar with water and lemon juice.
Watch outBoil the syrup to thread stage — a drop pulled between two fingers spins a fine thread; too thin it soaks in, too far it crystallizes.
- 61 min
Brush syrup on warm pastries; cool.
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