Mantecados

As happens, suddenly I find myself hosting a group of people on the 25th - my menu is tapas. I wanted a dessert that was also in keeping with the Spanish theme. I thought, since it is Christmas, I'd make mantecados.

Many searches on Google and Yahoo later, I haven't a clue as to what goes into a "typical" mantecados cookie. I have a feeling that the recipes I'm seeing are mostly Americanized. I suppose I could take a recipe written in Spanish and translate it...I just didn't happen to find any.

I thought I had"Spain" but I do not - and the other two cookbooks I have about Spanish food or tapas do not include this recipe.

Give my time frame, I cannot get to the library or purchase another cookbook for this....it it my sincere hope that someone here will know about these cookies and have a general idea of what goes in them - at least I could compare to the ones I found (which are amazingly dissimilar). If I can't make them, I'll probably make marzipan, though much more time consuming than I wanted to tackle.

TIA.

Here's one from Spain, Mantecados, badly Google translated.

And another, which claims to be traditional. This one is from site on Spanish Christmas food.

Thanks, Laz. That gives me a great idea of what the original ingredients are. It makes sense, as from what I know it is a shorbread and these read like shortbread ingredients. And I did think lard was used. Some of the recipes I found online used butter. And some olive oil. It's possible that some do use olive oil in Spain, though my money is on lard.

These are both cinnamon - I think they can be anise or lemon/orange rind, too.

Just curious, how did you find them in Spanish and have Google translate them?

Here's a recipe indicating lemon rind flavoring. Olive oil, though.

Did a google search for mantecaos (note spelling) AND receta and then used the "Translate this page" next to the post title. Works ok for this recipe, but can get really goofy on more complex ones. Rayadura is obviously rind, and espolvearlos after facts is depues de hechos, sprinkling after making.

Thanks. I did a search just now and had fun with the poorly translated pages. Very amusing.

But, it was very clear what is traditionally used in them by looking at the pages. Not completely clear on the process, lol, but I think I get the gist.