Marías cookies are the classic Spanish cookie. These crisp round cookies are "as comforting as a trip to Grandma's house, and as familiar as a favorite teddy bear," says Deborah Luhrman of Gourmetour Magazine. Enjoy your María cookies with coffee or hot chocolate like they do in Spain.

Galletas Birba bakes the finest Marías in Spain, using fresh butter, eggs and olive oil. They christened them 'Nuria' cookies to distinguish them from the lower quality variety on the market. This handsome tin holds four individually wrapped rolls, each holding 22 cookies. The metal tin protects the cookies from breakage and keeps them fresh.

An interesting historical note: in 1875, the Grand Duchess María of Russia married the Duke of Edinburgh in a festive wedding, which caught Europe's fancy. To celebrate the occasion, a small English bakery in England created a sweet new cookie with María stamped on the top. Its popularity spread throughout Europe. Most of all, in Spain it became the nation's favorite cookie - 40% of all cookies sold in the country.

Marías were first produced in large quantities in Spain around the turn of the 20th century, but it was not until after the Spanish Civil War that they became an integral part of the national culture. When the war ended in 1939, the nation's top priority was for every Spaniard to have enough bread. The wheat harvests were so plentiful that the bakers turned out huge numbers of cartons of Marías to consume the surplus. In those days, every café had a plate of Marías on the counter - a happy sign of Spain's recovery.

Note: the color of the tin you receive may differ from the color shown in the photo.