A bear claw is a sweet, yeast-raised pastry, similar to a Danish, originating in the United States during the mid-1920s.[1][failed verification] A bear claw is usually filled with almond paste,[2] and sometimes raisins, and often shaped in a large, irregular semicircle with slices around the outside, or rectangular with partial slices along one side. As the dough rises the sections separate, evoking the shape of a bear's toes.[3]
The name bear claw as used for a pastry is first attested in 1936.[4] The phrase is more common in Western American English,[1] and is included in the U.S. Regional Dialect Survey Results, Question #87, "Do you use the term 'bear claw' for a kind of pastry?"[5]
