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Mandelbread

For Mrs. S., mazel tov on the upcoming bar-mitzvah!

Mandel Bread, Mandelbroit, Biscotti

mandelbread
When I need a dessert for company or for my family, I often make these little cookies called mandelbread. In Yiddish, mandel means almonds, so traditionally these cookies had almonds in them. I’ll give you two recipes, one with almonds and one without, so you can choose.

Mandelbread with Crushed Almonds

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • dab of salt
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup of crushed raw almonds
  • 2 cups of flour
  • Canola oil, enough to wet the dough

Crush the almonds in the food processor. Mix ingredients in order shown, except for the oil. Drizzle in oil until the dough is wet enough to shape into loaves. Shape into 2 long loaves, 2 inches long. Place on parchment paper on baking sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20-30 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inches slices and place on their sides. Continue baking for about 4 minutes.

Mandelbread, plain

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • dab of salt
  • 2 cups of flour

Mix ingredients in order shown. Shape into 2 long loaves, 2 inches long. Place on parchment paper on baking sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20-30 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inches slices and place on their sides. Continue baking for about 4 minutes.

With either recipe, you can dot the top of your pre-baked mandelbread with chocolate chips, points facing down, for the choc-oholics in your family.

Ilana-Davita says

I love almonds so I guess I would go for the first recipe. Is this a family recipe?

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Leora says

The original recipe was from the Rochester Hadassah cookbook. I think that one called for bits of lemon rind or orange rind, which I loved but my kids did not. It got re-worked over the years into the second one. I made up the top one recently, because I wanted the nuts back in the recipe. You may want to experiment with amounts of flour in the top recipe.

My mother-in-law makes fabulous mandelbread, same ingredients as the second one, but somehow hers tastes so good. We don't know her magic.

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Mrs. S. says

Thanks, Leora!
They look delicious, and I especially like the idea of putting chocolate chips on top.

I know that these will be a big hit at the bar mitzvah IY"H!

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Lorri says

What a nice recipe! I have made mandelbread the same way but I add two tsp. of anise seed and one tsp. of almond extract to it (my bubbe used anise seed). When the Italian side of me is more into defining it as biscotti, and when making biscotti, I use crushed walnuts instead of almonds.

I also make a biscotti for this time of year (using same basic recipe) with a dash of ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, and about 1/2 cup of pureed pumpkin (you can buy it in cans in the grocery store). Yummmmylicious! :)

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Leora says

Lorri, those all sound so good! Especially the crushed cloves.

I used crushed walnuts in a previous version, but my husband said he prefers the crushed almonds. I suppose many different kinds of nuts could be tried.

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Ilana-Davita says

I like the idea of lemon rind.

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eddie says

I got my biscotti recipes from a Cyprus friend, and tried it.
I will try ur recipes very soon.

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Gail says

A friend of my mother-in-law used to make terrific mandel bread. I asked her for the recipe years ago, but mine never came out as good as hers either. She sometimes sprinkled chocolate chips over it and other times made an indent across the top into which she put apricot jam. The picture of yours looks very yummy. I might give it a try.

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The Jewish Side says

My brother loves MandelBread, now that I started making stuff, perhaps I'll try this one out too, he will be so happy.

I've actually never tasted it, cause it always looked like steal bread.

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Ilana-Davita says

Hope you like feedback as this is the second one within one minute:
I made mandelbrot for Shabbat using the second recipe to which I added 1 tsp of almond extract (maybe I could have put 2) and lemon rind and where I put les vanilla. I followed your instructions to the letter (25 minutes of cooking before slicing) and the result was perfect!

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Leora says

Glad for the feedback, Ilana-Davita! The recipe you picked is the one my son makes often. The original version used lemon rind.

Reply

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