Christmas Cakes and Cookies: Mantecados

Nowadays, the manufacture of our famous Christmas cakes and cookies is completely automatic and ascends to over 20 tonnes of mantecados and polvorones per year. This has come to be one of the most important industries for the local economy, as well as for the whole region. Due to the several crises that Spain has gone through before and after the pandemic, the production of our traditional Christmas cakes and cookies was slowed. However, it still amounts up to €70 million per year. The economy of Estepa depends on our effort and ability to maintain and increase these levels. Those companies that economically depend on providing transport, printers, cardboard and packaging factories, machines, and maintenance workshops for the manufacturing of our Christmas cakes and cookies also rely on this premise. It is important to note that 90% of the machines used in this industry are built and sold by local workshops in Estepa and these are therefore also in charge of their regular maintenance.