I know, I know. You’re thinking it won’t work and it’ll taste vile. That’s what I thought. Now, having just made this and tasted it for the first time, I’ll say it IS different and it IS spicy, but a little chilli works in a dessert sometimes. It’d be lovely with a really cooling, creamy mouse or a syllabub, perhaps apricot or peach, nothing too sharp (lemon or green apple might be too sour – but have a go, maybe it’ll be fantastic).

I was given a packet of Ras el Hanout (a Moroccan spice blend consisting mainly of cinnamon, cardamom, rosebuds, turmeric, cloves, chilli, cumin etc – although there’s no definitive recipe) FREE, as a promotional  press thing. I trawled the internet for recipes and they are mostly stews: lamb, chicken, beef, chickpea curries etc. No desserts that I could fine and certainly no Ras el Hanout Shortbread! So this is an exclusive, world first you’re getting here.

Recipe: Ras el Hanout Shortbread

Ingredients: (makes 16 squares)

100g butter (I used Benecol Buttery)

75g sugar

150g plain flour

1 level tbsp Ras el Hanout

Method:  Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Cream the butter and sugar together in a food processor then add the flour and spice mix. If doing by hand, rub the butter into the flour as you would for pastry, then stir through the sugar and spice. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin (and I lined mine with greaseproof paper – a good idea unless you’re using a loose-bottomed tin). Tip the crumbs in and level them out. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden. Immediately after taking out of the oven, cut into 16 squares, but leave in the tin to cool. Serve with a cuppa, or to accompany a creamy chilled dessert eg pannacotta, rice pudding, fruit (or chocolate) mousse, syllabub or posset.

Variation: Instead of the spice mix, add a large teaspoon of dried-rosemary-and-seasalt mix, plus a teaspoon of lemon or orange oil.

These make a lovely gift or dinner party present wrapped in cellophane left over from Christmas. I’ve got loads of this patterned plastic wrap and it makes all homemade, edible gifts look special, tied with a little ribbon. Kids love them too, as they’re basically cookies.

PS: I feel like a proper food writer here! Having actually invented a recipe that I don’t think anyone else has thought of. And it just came from ruminating on Ras el Hanout and wondering what to do with it. The idea came to me from smelling it – it really smells like a sweet spice mix because so much of it is cinnamon. Plus I’ve been making a lot of shortbread and cookies recently – a batch per day I would say (no, I’m not eating them all).