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María Blanco's childhood (42) smells of butter, sugar and puff pastry.
The afternoons after school were spent in
the family bakery in Torrelavega
, a small town located just over 20 kilometers from Santander.
"There I did my homework while my mother was dispatching."
Today, together with her sister, she is the fourth generation in charge of Confitería Blanco, a sweet paradise where puff pastry reigns placidly.
The fame of its products is well known in the area.
Among the regular customers who have chosen him for weddings and celebrations is the Botín family.
But the pandemic arrived, they closed down - "many of our workers are older and we didn't want to take risks" - and we had to find ways out that would strengthen the business.
"I could not think that this was going to close, that we were going to put an end to so much history," she says somewhat emotionally.
In 1898 his great-grandfather set up this family business where everything is made by hand.
The chocolate palm trees (19.95 / half kilo) are irregular because they are made one by one.
María began to investigate to open a home delivery service to the entire Peninsula.
"I started to see the boxes, conservation issues, logistics ...".
And a few months ago they inaugurated it.
Íker Jiménez has been one of the last to surrender to the sweets of this house.
"We only accept 25 orders a day capped," he says.
"
We do not want to be a factory. All the pastry shop is bathed by hand and that is a job
" They have added two more people to the team.
"Even the apple slices on the cake are cut by hand."
Changes in habits have caused many people to buy quality products to enjoy at home and there they want to earn their piece of the cake.
"
People pay for a quality product
."
His puff pastry has little secret and a lot of work: "An excellent raw material and time", from 5 in the morning there are people working in the bakery.
"The way of doing it has hardly changed from that used by my great-grandfather, Ángel Blanco."
He was an entrepreneur, who learned to make puff pastry during his stay at a friars' college where he did not find his vocation but did find a job opportunity.
Polkas (17.95 / half kilo) are a specialty of the house.
The polka -thin sheets of puff pastry topped by a layer of sugar that in Blanco they call royal icing-, the typical sweet of Torrelavega, was created by Ángel Blanco.
Even today it is one of the favorites in the confectionery, to which have been added the almonds, the chocolate palm trees and, of course, the almond puff pastry cake.
"We usually take between 30 and 40 cakes to Castro Urdiales. A lot of product is sold there."
We talked about their delicious empanadas another day.
In Torrelavega they have their operations headquarters and they want to continue that way.
"We would like to open a store in Bilbao."
With the same essence and product
.
"We do not aspire to be a pastry shop-cafeteria", clarifies María.
Until today, he has never advertised his delicacies.
"The only thing I have done is send my product so that people can see it first hand."
The web, where the photos have made them friends, and the networks, where María began to see appreciation for what they did, have been her other showcase.
White Confectionery
.
Consolación, 11. Tel .: 942 881 012. Torrelavega (Cantabria).
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