Heat oven to 350 F / 180 C / Gas Mark 4. Butter and line two baking trays with baking parchment. Sift the flour, baking powder, spice and sugar in a large bowl, and mix well. Then stir in the eggs and orange zest until the mixture starts to come together.

Stop stirring and start to use your hand and knead until no floury patches remain in the bowl. Add the dried fruit and nuts and mix until mixed through the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four. Sprinkle with a little flour and using your fingers roll out into long sausages. Place two pieces of rolled out dough on each prepared baking tray making sure they are spaced well apart.

Bake n the oven for twenty-five to thirty minutes until the dough has risen and spread and feels firm to the touch. Remove the cooked dough from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool.

Turn the oven down the oven to 275 F / 140 C / Gas Mark 1.

Using a serrated bread knife, cut into slices about three-quarters of a centimetre, then lay the slices flat back on the baking sheets. Return to the cooler oven and bake for fifteen minutes.

Carefully remove from the oven and using a small palette knife turn over, then return to the oven and bake again for another fifteen to twenty minutes until dry and golden. Return to the cooling rack to cool completely, then store in an airtight tin for up to one month.