Biscuits play a central role in the sobretaula, an institution that fosters dialogue and brings people together. Many of the products recognised in this fifth edition of Girona Excel·lent play a part in the sobretaula: coffees, teas, ratafias and other liqueurs, dessert wines, jams, and dried fruit and nuts. You could add chocolates and some great confectionary specialties that mark the country’s festive calendar: nougats, rabasses (Empordà Christmas biscuits), tortells, coques de llardons, bunyols, mones, flaones, coques de Sant Joan, panellets, neules… Added to this are the outstanding ultra-local specialties that have become universal: a fish-shaped brioche filled with cream and taps de Cadaqués, the bisbalenc cake, the rus cake and the coca from Palau-saverdera, the tortell entorxat, the Banyoles tortada, the xuixo de Girona and fuet dolç (sweet dried sausage); the latter is a product that divides the crowd as it is meaty and sweet at the same time.
Small sweets, to eat in one bite, are made in all the regions of Girona. In fact, the beauty of biscuits, which usually have dried fruit and nuts as their main ingredient, is the fact that they last a long time and can travel. Many pastry chefs have always specialised in biscuits, tea cakes or dessert pastries, plus new biscuit manufacturers have emerged, or some have returned to their places of origin. The most famous and acclaimed biscuits are those from Santa Coloma de Farners and Camprodon, where an industry has been established that distributes its boxes across the world. In 1909, the name teula de Santa Coloma de Farners was patented, a fine evolution of the biscuits described in old recipe books such as La Cuynera Catalana, dating from 1835. A year later, in 1910, the industrial production of biscuits began in Camprodon.
After clearing away the plates, biscuits play an important role: they are the perfect accompaniment to coffee, ideal for making sucamulla (soaking them in dessert wine, ratafia or teas). They are also fantastic for warding off hunger during the day. And they play a prominent role in the kitchen, as an ingredient in the picada, described in the section on dried fruit and nuts.
Biscuits with the 2023-2024 Girona Excel·lent seal
Ametllats (almond biscuits)
Eulàlia Pallarès, restaurateur, and Jordi Fortià, industrial designer and chef, established La Galeta Artesana in 2017 on Carrer Bisbe Lorenzana in Girona. Thanks to their professional training, they designed the workshop and devised the packaging of the biscuits, the advertising and website design themselves. These ametllats are one of their ‘revisited classics’: a crunchy almond biscuit decorated with almond pieces scattered on top and containing a high percentage of almonds: 25%.
Company: La Galeta Artesana SL
Teules (tuile biscuits)
Joaquim Trias i Vila started making and selling pastry and biscuit products in 1908. It didn’t take long for their fine tuile biscuits to become famous, and they are now a universal symbol of Santa Coloma de Farners. These tuile biscuits made by Trias Galetes Biscuits are made with 25% Mediterranean almonds, sugar, flour, eggs and salt, and do not contain emulsifiers, preservatives, colourings or additives of any kind.
Company: Trias Galetes-Biscuits, SA
Neules (wafer rolls)
Neules have been at the centre of traditional patisserie for centuries, because it is a simple recipe based on egg yolks, sugar, cream, natural lemon essence and cinnamon. It is a wafer biscuit with a fine and crunchy texture that is rolled into a tube so it looks like a giant straw. Neules are one of the typical biscuits that are never missing from Christmas tables in Catalonia. They are also good for the game of sipping sparkling wine.
Company: Trias Galetes-Biscuits, SA
Digestive Biscuits
La Galeta Artesana specialises in the preparation of all kinds of sweet, savoury and wholegrain biscuits and other popular pastry products, such as cupcakes, muffins and plum cakes, among others. Their organic digestive biscuits are a big success and are said to aid digestion. They are made with wholemeal spelt flour and almond flour, a very good antioxidant which protects against free radicals and reduces cholesterol.
Company: La Galeta Artesana SL
4 Formatges (four-cheese crackers)
La Galeta Artesana’s workshop is open to the public, because its business idea is based on selling biscuits that anyone could make in their oven at home. In fact, the place is a kind of farm shop with an area for tasting their biscuits and making coffee, tea, infusions or hot chocolate, but also so everyone can see how they work. Made with Manchego, Gouda, Emmental and Cheddar cheeses, and with a sprinkling of rosemary, the four-cheese crackers have a homemade style.
Company: La Galeta Artesana SL
Cocoxoco Biscuits
These delicious crunchy biscuits are representative of this moment in the twenty-first century, more for their combinations than for the flavours: oats, coconut, brown sugar and chocolate. These products are omnipresent in liquid or solid form, singly or mixed. Coconut and chocolate are the protagonists, and result in that familiar explosion of contrasting flavours from the tropics. Coconut is popular for being full of fibre and minerals, while oats bring their nutritional properties of fibre, minerals and vitamins.
Company: La Galeta Artesana SL
Xoconuts Biscuits
This biscuit is inspired by the typical American cookie: gooey, with lots of chocolate and pieces of walnuts. Both chocolate and walnuts are antioxidants, and a perfect and delicious combination for cookie lovers. Crushed hazelnuts are the secret ingredient, which gives the biscuits a touch of sweetness. If eaten at the La Galeta Artesana farm, they can be paired with one of the organic sweet and sparkling wines they have on offer.
Company: La Galeta Artesana SL
Lime-lemon triangle biscuit
The lime-lemon triangle is one of Trias Galetes-Biscuits’ newest delights. The starting point is its celebrated wafer roll, which offers so many possibilities for filling. This is a fresh biscuit, thanks to the acidity of the lime and lemon, which contrasts well with the white chocolate. It is ideal to pair with a Japanese green tea that is very high in chlorophyll, with a glass of muscatel, a rosé cava or, as suggested at Can Trias, with a marc de cava.
Company: Trias Galetes-Biscuits, SA
Quimets
Master pastry chef Marc Armela devised this biscuit in 2018 to honour Dr Joaquim Codina on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Dr Codina, a doctor and botanist from La Cellera de Ter, is a fundamental figure in the history of mycology. Quimets are biscuits made with aromatic herbs and candied orange to evoke intense herbaceous flavours. Ca l’Armela was established in 2016 in the centre of La Cellera de Ter, where they make artisan cakes, brioches and bread, and have a small terrace where you can sample their products.
Company: Marc Armela Riera
