Mantecados & Polvorones

Picture of Polvorones - The Crumble Cookie Related to Mantecados

A Brief History of Mantecados

September is when Christmas begins in the small town of Estepa, Spain. This quaint town located in the province of Seville, jump starts into full production of Mantecados, a humble shortbread-like cookie native to the area. Mantecados bring much happiness to the millions of people who over the years have made of these delicious cookies a treasured Christmas tradition.
Over the centuries, Estepa has become famous for their Christmas sweets, but Mantecados and their sister cookies Polvorones and Alfajores are more than just an ancient tradition. The industrialization of these cookies has provided much needed development and economic growth to the town's people and surrounding areas.It is a very sweet reward to the people of Estepa that such a traditional and artisan product has become much appreciated in the entire Iberian Peninsula and abroad.

Today, Mantecados, Polvorones and Alfajores are as much a Christmas tradition where ever Spanish is spoken, as turkey is the USA for Thanksgiving. As in the case of Alfajores, both Mantecados and Polvorones are also quite popular in Latin America where as with all other gastronomic traditions of Spanish origin, they have been adapted and infused with local flavors and ingredients, and are now consumed year-round.

The origin of the Spanish Mantecado dates back to the XVI century, a time when the region of Andalusia experienced a surplus of grains and pork products. Around this time, a certain type of biscuit commonly known as "lard cakes" were popular in every house and specially in the religious convents like the famous Convent of Santa Clara, where the historical archives reference the kind of dishes and ingredients used to make these biscuits.

However, the first direct reference to Mantecados dates to the end of the XIX century, and is tied to the life of a woman named Filomena Micaela Ruiz Tellez. The beginning of the mass production of Mantecados is credited to Micaela, as she was popularly known. Her husband was a peddler between the town of Estepa and the city of Cordoba, and she gave him a few of her cakes to sell on the way. The biscuits where a hit and soon they turned into a full time enterprise. Micaela’s success was primarily due to her baking method, which consisted of completely drying the cookies to produce a shortbread bread like biscuit which was crispy in the outside, yet tendered in the inside. By 1934 there were over 15 homes in Estepa where families where fully devoted to the production of Mantecados for the Andalusia market.

Today there are over 30 artisan factories in Estepa which are dedicated to the production of Mantecados and Polvorones for the domestic and international markets. These artisan workshops continue to use the closely guarded original recipes and are organized into the Estepa Association of Manufacturers of Mantecados.

Although Mantecados, Polvorones, and Alfajores are produced throughout Latin America and where ever Spanish is spoken, only a very selected few follow the Spanish recipe for Mantecados and Polvorones from Estepa. We at Split Bean Coffee have developed and tested our own recipe using as reference a recipe book dating to the XVII century found in a friend's personal library. After many trials and taste tests we have reproduced a product that can proudly say is truly inspired in the Mantecados first made by Filomena Micaela Ruiz Tellez from Estepa, and still produced in Estepa, Spain.

We are very proud to have discovered this old recipe and to pay tribute to many centuries of tradition by making our Mantecados and Polvorones using only natural ingredients. You can order your own Spanish Style Mantecados, Polvorones and Latin American Style Alfajores on our website at http://www.splitbeancoffee.com/ .

Spanish Style Mantecados