Mexican sweet shell buns (Conchas)

1. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk with a spoonful of sugar and leave to froth for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the sugar, the salt, the eggs and the yeasty milk to the flour and knead for 5 minutes; finally work in the soft butter little by little and knead for another 8-10 minutes until smooth, elastic and glossy.

2. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1½-2 hours until doubled.

3. For the topping, knead the flour, sugar and soft butter by hand into a smooth, clay-like paste. Divide in half: work the vanilla into one half and the cocoa and cinnamon into the other.

4. Shape the risen dough into 12 equal balls and place them well apart on a lined baking tray. Form 12 small balls from the topping paste, press them into thin discs between two sheets of plastic and smooth one onto each dough ball.

5. With a sharp knife (or a concha cutter), score a curved, shell-like pattern into each disc, then cover the conchas and leave to rise for another 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the bottoms are golden but the sugary tops are still pale. Cool on a rack. Serve with café de olla or hot chocolate.

Tip: Don't press the topping on hard – as the dough rises, the pattern "opens up" nicely like a shell.