Mandelbrot, often referred to as mondel bread is a traditional Jewish dessert recipe. "The Yiddish word mandelbrodt literally means almond bread"(Wikipedia) The Mandelbrot may be made a little different by each chef or family that creates the bread. The bread is very similar to the texture of an extremely crunchy cookie. The bread becomes hard and crunchy during the baking process. The Mandelbrot bread is typically bakes two times to reach the crunchy texture that is similar to that of a biscotti dessert.
Real Simple Magazine, has offered a recipe for Mandelbrot. It would make a lovely dessert to share with your family and friends this Hanukah.
Serves 24
Ingredients
3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup almond slivers
For the topping:
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C)
2. Beat eggs and sugar in medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and oil. Sift flour, baking powder, and cinnamon into wet mixture. Stir until combined. Gently stir in almonds.
3. Separate dough into two equal portions. Shape each portion into a rectangle about 5 inches x 10 inches (12.5 cm x 25 cm), and 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick. Place them on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl. Sprinkle over dough rectangles. You can top them with almond slivers, if you like.
5. Measuring with a ruler, mark the dough at 1-inch (2.5 cm) intervals. This will create guides for cutting the cookies after baking.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Remove from oven. Using a large spatula, move cookie rectangles to cutting board. Carefully slice through the marks, creating long, 1-inch (2.5 cm)-wide cookies. Then place cookies, cute side down, back on warm baking sheet and return to oven.
7. Bake cookies again until they are golden and toasted, up to 10 minutes.
The Kosher Food column on About.com has shared a traditional Kosher Mandelbrot recipe:
Mandelbrot, which literally means almond (mandel) bread (brot), is a twice-baked hard bread similar to Italian biscotti. For classic, rich-tasting mandel bread, follow these directions, provided by Paula Levine Weinstein and Julie Komerofsky Remer, EXACTLY as they are written.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
* 8 eggs
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 cups oil
* 8 cups flour
* 3 Tbsp. baking powder
* 3 cups chopped walnuts
* 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Preparation:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, oil and sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder.
3. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Add the nuts and vanilla extract.
4. Form the dough into three logs. Flatten them a bit on the top so they'll come out wider rather than rounder.
5. Bake on greased baking sheets at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cool slightly.
7. Slice them about an inch thick (or about as thick as the wide part of your thumb).
8. Dip both sides in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
9. Return to oven for about 5 more minutes to dry the cookie more.
Serious Eats has shared a version of the Mandelbrot recipe that will equal about 48 slices.
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* About 1 cup golden raisins, mini chocolate chips, and walnuts or a combination of the three (Malgieri's recipe calls for almonds, and no raisins or chocolate chips.)
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Malgieri calls for a teaspoon of almond extract in addition to the vanilla extract, but I skip it.)
* 1/2 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
* 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon for finishing
As you can see, there are many varieties of a Mandelbrot/Mandel Bread recipe. You may also add a variety of additional ingredients as desired. Many people add chocolate, almonds, walnuts, fruits, orange zest and more!
Happy Hanukah!
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