Miami Pastry Glossary: Pastelitos, Medialunas, Cardamom Buns and More

Cuban (Calle Ocho, Hialeah, Westchester)

Pastelito

The Cuban-American flagship pastry. Flaky puff pastry, baked into rectangles or triangles, filled with sweet (guayaba and cream cheese, coconut, dulce de leche) or savory (ground beef, ham and cheese) fillings. The puff pastry is laminated with butter or, in the cheaper versions, vegetable shortening. A real pastelito de guayaba is bronzed on top, dusted with sugar, and shatters when you bite into it.

Empanada

A turnover, usually savory. Cuban empanadas are typically baked, not fried, and the filling is often picadillo (ground beef with olives) or cheese. Different from Argentinian empanadas which are crimped along the edge in a distinct fold pattern.

Croqueta

Not a pastry exactly, but always at the bakery counter. Bechamel-based filling (most often with ham or chicken) rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. Sold in ones or threes alongside a cafecito. Eat them while standing, not in a sit-down setting.

Cafecito

Cuban espresso pulled long with a generous amount of sugar foamed in (the espuma). Served in a tiny cup, no milk. The standard Cuban-bakery breakfast accompaniment to a pastelito. Ask for "cafecito" not "café cubano" if you are at a counter.

Argentinian (Doral, Miami Beach, Aventura)

Medialuna

The Argentinian croissant, smaller and sweeter than the French version, glazed with sugar syrup. Often eaten three at a time alongside a cortado coffee. The shape is more closed and less flaked than a French croissant, and the dough is sweetened.

Alfajor

Two soft butter cookies (sometimes corn-flour-based, sometimes not) sandwiched around a thick layer of dulce de leche. Often rolled in coconut around the edge. Argentinian alfajores tend to be richer than the Peruvian or Spanish versions. They keep beautifully and are good for travel.

Argentinian Empanada

Distinguished from Cuban by the rope-fold along the edge (the repulgue) and by being pan-baked rather than fried. Fillings vary by region: Salta-style with hard-boiled egg, beef-and-onion, spinach-and-cheese.

Cortado

Argentinian espresso cut with steamed milk, served small. The bakery counter standard. Less sugar than Cuban cafecito.

Brazilian (Miami Beach, Aventura)

Pão de Queijo

Cheese-and-tapioca bread balls, naturally gluten-free. Warm, chewy, slightly stretchy texture. Eaten in handfuls with breakfast or as a snack. Sold in many South American bakeries in Miami in batches under heat lamps.

Brigadeiro

A truffle made from condensed milk, butter, cocoa, and chocolate sprinkles on the outside. Found in Brazilian-leaning bakeries and often at birthday-cake counters. Tiny, dense, intensely sweet.

Venezuelan and Colombian (Doral, West Miami)

Cachito

A Venezuelan ham-stuffed sweet bread, similar in shape to a small French batard. The bread is enriched and slightly sweet, the ham is sometimes mixed with cheese. A weekend breakfast staple in Caracas, increasingly available in Miami's Doral and surrounding neighborhoods.

Pandebono

A Colombian cheese bread, similar to pão de queijo but denser and slightly more savory. The dough uses cassava flour and queso costeño. Fast disappearance rate at the counter is a sign of quality.

Arepa

Not technically a pastry but always at the bakery: a corn cake split open and stuffed with cheese, meat, beans, or avocado. Venezuelan arepas tend to be plumper, Colombian arepas thinner and grilled.

French and European (Coral Gables, Brickell)

Croissant

The French original. Laminated dough, butter folded into 27 layers (in the classical method), baked until shatteringly crisp on the outside and pull-apart layered on the inside. Real croissants are not sweet; they are buttery. Anything dusted with powdered sugar or filled with cream filling is a different category.

Pain au Chocolat

Sometimes called "chocolatine" depending on the French region. A rectangular laminated pastry with two sticks of dark chocolate baked inside. Eaten warm, in two bites, with coffee.

Kouign-Amann

A Breton specialty. Laminated pastry with sugar baked into the layers, caramelizing into a glossy crust. Heavy, slightly chewy, deeply flavored. Found at higher-end Miami pastry counters.

Mille-feuille

Three layers of puff pastry alternating with two layers of vanilla cream, topped with fondant icing. Translates as "thousand sheets" because of the puff layers. A fork-and-plate dessert, not a takeaway item.

Scandinavian (North Miami Beach, Aventura)

Kanelbulle

The Swedish cinnamon bun. Soft yeasted dough, butter, cinnamon-sugar filling, hand-twisted into a knot, topped with pearl sugar. Cousin of the American cinnamon roll but with no icing and a less aggressive sweetness. The cinnamon should be background, not foreground.

Kardemummabulle

The cardamom version of the kanelbulle. Same dough, cardamom replacing cinnamon. The flavor is more sophisticated: warm, herbal, slightly citrusy. The Scandinavian standard for the daily fika (coffee break).

Semla

A seasonal Scandinavian bun (mostly January and February), filled with almond paste and topped with whipped cream. Hard to find outside Scandinavian bakeries.

Modern Miami (City-wide)

Oversized Stuffed Cookie

The 4-to-5-ounce cookies that took over Miami in 2023 and stayed. Soft center, molten or cream filling, chunky inclusions (caramel, peanut butter, hazelnut, pistachio cream). Originally a New York phenomenon, now native to Miami's bakery scene.

Crookie

A croissant-cookie hybrid: laminated dough wrapped around cookie dough and baked. Layered, sweeter than a croissant, more flaky than a cookie. The 2024 trend that did not fade.

Pistachio Twist

A bun with pistachio cream filling, twisted (or rolled) and topped with white chocolate. Modern Miami invention, often the most-ordered item on bakery menus.

How to Read a Miami Bakery Menu

• If the menu is in Spanish, the bakery is probably Cuban or Latin American. Order pastelitos and a cafecito.
• If the menu has accents on French words, the bakery is French-leaning. Croissants, pain au chocolat, kouign-amann.
• If the menu mentions cardamom or pearl sugar, the bakery is Scandinavian-influenced. Order the cardamom bun.
• If the menu lists individual oversized cookies by flavor name, the bakery is modern Miami. Order the pistachio or caramel.
• If the bakery has all of the above, it is a delivery operation curating internationally. Like ours.