Mandel Bread

Name: Mandel Bread
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 44
Ingredients: 4 cups (480 g) all-purpose flour; 1/2 tsp (3 g) fine sea salt; 4 tsp (12 g) baking powder; 1/2 cup (57 g) chopped walnuts; 4 large eggs; 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar; 1 tsp (5 g) vanilla; 1/2 cup (118 ml) vegetable oil; 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar; 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) ground cinnamon

by Becky at The Bake Dept

44 cookies

1 hr 10 min

Baking Mandel Bread (aka Mandelbrot), an old Jewish family recipe passed down through the generations.

Foodtalk Recommends!

Make this delicious bread with these bestseller chopped walnuts that Amazon reviewers swear by!

Mandel bread, also known as Mandelbrot or Mandelbroit or it also translates into "almond bread" from Yiddish and German, is a cookie I grew up with but haven't eaten in for-freaking-ever.

Not for a lack of want. Recently, I requested the recipe from mom which is my Grandma Rose's recipe, which came from my Bubbe. And interestingly, there's no almond here. Heh.

It's really much easier to make than I expected so I should make this all the heck time is what I should be doing...

After mixing everything together, you'll form four log-ish shapes and bake them.

After the first bake, you'll slice them on a diagonal, much like biscotti but tastier (IMO).

For more tips and details about shaping and cutting these cookies, come by the blog post for the info.

Roll the slices around in some cinnamon and sugar, yum...

...and give them a second bake if you'd like. It's not required, and I didn't do that here, but you certainly can to crisp and brown them up further.

These cookies are fabulous on their own, with coffee or tea I'm assuming, as a snack, a cookie, with breakfast, definitely with a glass of cold milk or even better yet, chocolate milk. Mmm....

Dang it, these cookies are good any ol' second of any ol' day.

Be sure to drop by The Bake Dept for more on this recipe and so much more including my Grandma's Honey Cake!

Mandel Bread

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Recipe details

Yield 44 cookies
Time spent: Prep time: 30 Minutes Cook time: 40 Minutes Total time: 1 hr 10 min

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Per serving

% Daily value

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F (176° C) and line a baking sheet with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, or lightly grease the baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the first three dry ingredients, the flour, salt, and baking powder. Fluff with a fork or a whisk to combine. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts atop the dry ingredients and stir to lightly combine.
In medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs until well mixed. Add the 1 cup (198 g) of sugar and whisk until the combination is smooth. Add the oil and vanilla then whisk until everything is evenly mixed and the oil is dispersed.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the flour dry ingredients and gently fold together with a spatula until a few streaks of flour are left. Avoid over-mixing.
Very lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Form the dough into a loose ball and divide it evenly into 4 pieces. Flatten each piece into a 3" wide by about 3/4" thick rectangle. The dough will become stickier as it is worked with so continue to use lightly floured or water-dampened fingers.
Place each rectangle on the baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes. They will be very lightly browned, look dried, and puffed. Meanwhile, mix the remaining 1/4 cup (50 g) of sugar and the cinnamon in a wide flat bowl or on a rimmed plate.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven, let the rectangles of baked dough cool slightly, enough to be handled, and slice each into 1/2" wide pieces on a diagonal with a serrated knife with a gentle sawing motion. Roll each slice in the cinnamon and sugar mix to coat.
The cookies can be placed on a cooling rack to cool at this point.
To further crisp and brown the cookies, there are two options: for double-baked but tender, lighter color cookies, lower the temperature to 250° F (120° C) and set the cinnamon sugar coated cookies cut sides down on the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 20 minutes. For darker, crispier, slightly drier cookies, leave the temperature at 350° F (176° C), set the cinnamon sugar coated cookies cut sides down on the baking sheet, and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the desired shade of golden brown.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. These cookies keep well for an extended time.

Comments

Cso51108026 on Apr 19, 2022

Okay, folks - don't be afraid of the # of steps. This was stupid-easy; like, even *I*- could-do-this-easy! AND SO GOOD!!! And if you aren't crazy about walnuts, #subyourfavoritenut here (not peanuts, they're legumes! lol). No, but really - I had a small amount of pecans and a small amount of almonds left after in the freezer after Christmas/Chanukah cookie season; pulsed those bad boys in a food processor (I'm lazy; they would've been coarsely chopped with a knife easily!), and I just kept my fingers floured (I hate when my fingers get "gluey" with wet flour - it's an Asperger's thing). But SO good! I made part of the batch where I double baked, like biscotti, and the other part I didn't, just to see the difference. The biscotti-method is honestly just as good, but is *definitely* a dunking cookie (or a teething cookie!! lol). But both are just so doggone delish!!! I did NOT try the lower-temp biscotti method, and may, next time (and there WILL be a next time!), but they were so stinking good right out of the oven and tossed in the cinnamon-sugar? They just might not make it back onto the baking tray! lol

2 Reply
- Becky at The Bake Dept on Apr 19, 2022
  
  Yaaaayyyy! I am so tickled pink that you not only played around, you loved these!
  Thank you so very much for your thoughts, insights, tips, and ideas! These are my most favorite cookies of all time and it warms my little heart to no end knowing you enjoyed them like I do! Thank you!
  
  1
Sul34310443 on Apr 26, 2022

Second baking is required, IMO. Never heard of a mandelbrot recipe that was NOT double-baked. And I would leave off the cinnamon sugar; I like mine less sweet. I'm the type who scrapes the frosting off cake.

Like Reply
- Becky at The Bake Dept on Apr 26, 2022
  
  Everyone has different likes and dislikes so it’s great that this recipe is flexible like that. Thanks!
  
  Like
- Julie 10 hours ago
  
  You are weird as far as sweets go. I grew up in a house where we all dove into whatever sweets we could find! My husband is the complete opposite and I don't get it. He doesn’t like frosting. I can (and do) eat it right out of the container. My Mom made Mandel Bread all the time. It was her signature dish. I hate walnuts so she made me a special small batch without walnuts. What a sweet Mom! I won’t even compete with her recipe which she took to her grave. She never wrote it down. Although I haven’t tried this recipe, the ingredients seem very close to my Mom’s recipe. I can’t wait to try it. I do remember the twice-bake thing though. Good luck to you. If I ever try this recipe I’ll let you know
  how it turns out.
  
  Like