Moroccan Cinnamon Cookies (Mantecados)

Caroline Cooks's Note:

The number of cookies may vary due to their size. Submitted for ZWT3.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 24 cookies

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• ½ cup oil
• 1 egg , beaten
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• ½ lemon, zest of , grated
• ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Put the flour into a large bowl.
3. Make a well in the center.
4. Add oil, egg, sugar and grated lemon rind.
5. Knead the dough.
6. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with some flour.
7. Gently form small balls from dough and flatten a little.
8. Arrange them on the sheet.
9. Let stand for 20 minutes.
10. Sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon.
11. Bake for 20 minutes.

Reviews

[c@teberry]

I made these exactly according to the recipe. They are very flavorful, but are hard to get off the pan once they cool a bit so take them off immediately (while they're still piping hot). You don't need any extra liquid if you sift the flour before you measure it and knead the dough until it holds together. In the end, they are a harder, crunchy cookie with a lot of lemon flavor.

[AdrieElla]

I totally cheated while making these cookies but the were delicious. I did not have a lemon on hand so I used 1 teaspoon lemon extract instead. I also found that the dough was too crumbly, so because I didn't read the reviews first, I just added a tiny bit of water. Only a little at a time, until I thought that the consistency was correct for a cookie dough. They seemed to turn out fine. The first bite was a little surprising, I guess smelling the cinnamon while baking made me forget about the lemon, haha. I can't wait to make these cookies for my Moroccan habibi. However, I don't think he will be all that impressed because I so cheated, lol. So, even though they probably weren't truly authentic the way I made them, they were still lovely.

[GibsonGirl.V]

I made these cookies with the extra egg as suggested. The dough was delicious and unfortunately much better than the baked cookie. The texture was off and they tasted like they were missing something. I made them again and added a bit of salt which helped somewhat. They really need a little baking powder or something though because they were rather hard and lacking body. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe though. They certainly weren't bad and they were super easy. It was also fun to try a moroccan cookie recipe.