Madrid’s Casa Mira is a turroneria/bakery which opened its doors in 1855. It’s remained unchanged since then and is really beautiful, especially the giant carousel in the window, which spins slowly to display the turrones, candied fruits and pastries for sale.

Our classic Christmas sweet is turron, made from almonds, honey, sugar and egg whites – the better the quality, the higher the almond and honey content. Cheaper industrial ones are pretty good, but feature more sugar and less honey, as well as cheaper nuts. The best ones are sublime and at Casa Mira you will find the absolute best.

There are so many variations of turron these days, but I will give a shout out to some of the most traditional ones:

“Jijona” or “blanda” (soft) is smooth and creamy with a touch of cinnamon.

“Alicante” or “dura” (hard) is white and has whole almonds and is crunchy.

“Guirlache” is my favourite – whole almonds set in crunchy caramel with a slightly burnt taste and a little anis.

You’ll queue at Christmas, while it’s quiet during the rest of the year. They also sell pastries including an exceptional “palmera” which you need to try!