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Oven-baked · traditional

Chinitos

Fluffy brioche, pastry cream and chocolate: the capital's afternoon bun

also: «chinito de crema y chocolate», «chinito de Almería»

Oven-baked Coast

A brioche-style bun split open, filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate. Breakfast and afternoon treat of Almería city's confiterías.

Chinitos
Chinitos

Where it comes from

Almería city

The chinito is eaten with both hands: a fluffy brioche-style bun that is split open, filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate. That is how the Confitería Capri defined it in 2014 — "fluffy bun with pastry cream and chocolate topping" — and that is how it remains in the capital's shop windows, for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

It has no written history and no birth date: it is a counter sweet that lives at Capri, at Confiterías Hernández and in other houses across the city. In May 2026 the Nutella brand included it among fifteen traditional Spanish sweets, and Almería's chinito briefly left the neighbourhood.

If you pass by Capri or Hernández, order one with your mid-morning coffee: the cold cream and the chocolate that cracks a little are all the explanation you need.

What it is made with

  • Flour
  • Milk
  • Yeast
  • Egg
  • Butter
  • Sugar
  • Custard cream
  • Coating chocolate

How it is made at home

  1. Knead flour, milk, yeast, egg, butter and sugar into a smooth brioche dough.
  2. Let it rise, shape elongated buns and bake until golden.
  3. Make a custard cream and let it cool.
  4. Split each cooled bun and fill it generously with the cream.
  5. Coat the top with melted chocolate and let it set.