Coquito Cheesecake

Maria cookies, as the biscuits are known throughout Latin America and Spain, are made with wheat flour, sugar, and vegetable oil and flavored with vanilla. The thin, round, crispy cookies are decorated only on one side, with the central surface dotted with holes and decorative patterns etched around the rim. The reverse side is traditionally smooth with no decorations.

Also known as Marie biscuits, the cookies were created in 1874 by the Peek Freans bakery in London in honor of the marriage between the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia and the Duke of Edinburgh. The simplicity of the biscuit along with its lightly sweet flavor led to Marie biscuits' immediate popularity throughout Europe. During the early 20th century, Maria cookie production in Spain was produced in large volumes by local bakery factories. After the Spanish Civil War, the surplus of wheat combined with a national priority of providing bread to the population led to the cookies' explosion in popularity, where they were served both at home and in cafés throughout the country.