The Inspired Kitchen

Mandelbrot: Almond Bread

The Jewish biscotti may have Italian roots.

By Adeena Sussman

It was a long time before I made the connection between mandelbrot, the twice-baked cookies commonly found in Ashkenazi Jewish households, and biscotti, the twice-baked cookies of Italian provenance. It's unclear how and when Ashkenazi Jews began baking mandelbrot, but Joan Nathan, in her book Jewish Cooking in America, suggests that the large Jewish population in Italy's Piedmont region may have been responsible for disseminating the recipe to German friends and family.

 

Though the term mandelbrot literally means "almond bread," many modern varieties abound, some with the addition of butter, chocolate chips and dried fruit. This is a traditional recipe, similar to the one my grandmother used to serve with steaming glasses of tea.

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole almonds, toasted, cooled and chopped

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high until thickened and slightly foamy, about 2-3 minutes. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl, and reserve. Add 1 cup sugar, oil and vanilla and beat until blended, about 1 minute. Add flour and orange zest to eggs, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add almonds and mix just until incorporated. Dough will be unified, but still slightly sticky. 

 

Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray, or lightly grease with oil. Wet hands lightly, and form half of dough into a 10-inch rectangular loaf and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with other half dough. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until loaves are browned and firm, but still slightly soft when pressed.

 

Adeena Sussman is a food writer and chef based in New York. She writes the bimonthly food column Season to Taste for Hadassah magazine, and her work appears regularly on Epicurious.com, and in publications including Time Out New York, The Forward, the San Jose Mercury News, and Sunset magazine. Visit her at adeenasussman.com.