So called because of their passing resemblance to potatoes, lucky tatties make an uncomplicated introduction to the world of retro sweets. The basic ingredients are available in every supermarket and most corner shops in the UK and can be transformed into a pile of extremely sugary treats within a few minutes.

Dust a chopping board with icing sugar, much as you would with flour when preparing to roll baked items.

Scoop one or two tablespoons of white fondant and mould it into a large coin shape on the board. Make the shape somewhat irregular for a more authentic look. Turn the coin and let it pick up icing sugar until the surface is just slightly sticky, but not too much.

  • So called because of their passing resemblance to potatoes, lucky tatties make an uncomplicated introduction to the world of retro sweets.
  • Scoop one or two tablespoons of white fondant and mould it into a large coin shape on the board.

Place the fondant coin on a plate and carefully shake over a little cinnamon powder. Although the original lucky tatties had a fairly thick layer of cinnamon powder, you might find this too intense a flavour.

Press the powder lightly into the coin using your fingers. This is also the point to push randomly at the surface to create a more potato-like appearance.

Turn the coin over and repeat. You now have a lucky tatty. Repeat the process until you have as many lucky tatties as you require.

TIP

Although the original sweets were pretty large, biscuit-like affairs, you might prefer to create smaller ones -- a large chunk of fondant tends to be a bit overwhelming unless you have a very sweet tooth.

Mixing a few drops of peppermint essence into the fondant mixture creates a more interesting taste. You could also blend the cinnamon powder with cocoa powder or even just icing sugar to “dilute” it.

The sweets originally contained a tiny cheap toy, although it is not recommended you add this touch without telling the recipients first; and not at all if the lucky tatties are for small children.

Making your own fondant is fairly time consuming and unlikely to save much money. If you decide to go this route, you’ll need to stock up on baking ingredients, in particular icing sugar, corn flour, vegetable shortening, glucose syrup and vegetable oil.