• 75g soft unsalted butter 60g white sugar 60g dark muscovado sugar 1 tbsp cinnamon ¼ tsp mixed spice 1 tsp lemon zest ½ vanilla extract 1 egg yolk (large) 150g plain flour pinch of salt

Lemon and cinnamon is a combination of flavours that is very much used in Spanish deserts and go together very well. In fact there is a well known recipe called Mantecados that uses this combination and is very typical of winter time and Christmas, but this recipe is not based on that one. I used these two flavours and combined it with another one to round off the cinnamon – dark muscovado sugar which gives it an accent of caramel and treacle and works wonderfully well. This recipe is quite easy to make, but the butter must be soft in order to combine with the sugar.

  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Mix the butter, white sugar, muscovado sugar in a bowl and mix thoroughly until combined
  • Add the egg yolk, salt, vanilla extract and mix well
  • Add the flour (doesn’t need to be sieved), cinnamon, lemon zest, and mixed spice and work it until it is all combined evenly.
  • Roll into small balls about 3cm in diameter and place in a tray with greaseproof paper, and press down with your fingers to flatten until it is about 1cm in height
  • Sprinkle some white sugar on top
  • Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes

The result is a delicious and crunchy biscuit, sweet with hints of treacle, cinnamon and lemon.