By Joan Nathan
- Total Time
- 1¼ hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- 4(195)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Mandelbrot (or mandel bread) is an Eastern European Jewish cookie, a variation on biscotti. The dough is baked twice: first in a log, and then again after it's been sliced into cookies. This recipe includes the smart trick of freezing the dough after baking it the first time, then cutting it into slices when still frozen before baking again. This makes for a thinner slice, fewer crumbs when cutting and a crispier texture. You can make it with matzo cake meal during Passover — a delicious variation.
Featured in: The Legend of King Solomon and the Passover Feast
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Ingredients
Yield:About 30 cookies
- 2cups plus 1 tablespoon/264 grams all-purpose flour or 1½ cups/204 grams matzo cake meal
- ½cup/85 grams potato starch
- ½cup/55 grams almond flour
- 1½teaspoons cinnamon
- ½teaspoon sea salt
- 1¼cups/250 grams granulated sugar
- 12tablespoons/169 grams/1½ sticks unsalted butter or coconut oil, at room temperature
- 3large eggs
- 1cup/126 grams slivered almonds
- ½teaspoon vanilla
- Zest of 2 oranges
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (30 servings)
193 calories; 8 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 26 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 40 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In a large bowl, mix flour or matzo cake meal, potato starch, almond flour, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and the salt.
Step
2
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream 1 cup/200 grams sugar and the butter or coconut oil. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in flour or matzo mixture, almonds, vanilla and orange zest.
Step
3
Place half the dough on a piece of parchment paper about 20 inches long. Use parchment paper to help mold the dough into a log about 10 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. (The dough is very soft and may be hard to worth with.) Gently press down along the top of the log to flatten it slightly. Twist ends of the parchment paper to seal. Repeat with the remaining dough. Refrigerate both logs for at least 1 hour.
Step
4
Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap dough logs and put on the prepared baking sheet, side by side. Bake logs for 35 to 45 minutes, until just beginning to brown. The dough should not be too cracked on the top. It is better to underbake than overbake.
Step
5
Let logs cool, wrap in plastic and freeze until you are ready to finish them, or for at least 1 hour.
Step
6
Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ cup/50 grams sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Step
7
Remove logs from freezer. With a sharp, serrated knife, cut the logs into roughly ½-inch-thick slices, discarding the end slices if they fall apart. (If the logs have been in the freezer for several hours, let them sit at room temperature for a few minutes before slicing.)
Step
8
Dip both sides of each slice in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and place them flat on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, carefully turn slices over, then bake another 10 minutes, or until golden brown and starting to crisp.
Ratings
4
out of 5
195
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Cooking Notes
Adrienne
What is a good substitute for potato starch? It's an ingredient I'd rather omit if not making mandelbrot for Passover.
Terry
I omitted the potato starch and added more Almond flour and cake meal. They were delicious and the texture was perfect.
Pam Howard
Mandelbrot in almond bread in German. While the word "almond" is superfluous in the name of this recipe, many who make it use Mandelbrot as a generic name for an Eastern European, twice-baked, biscotti type of cookie. Some recipes for Mandelbrot may use other nuts; some include chocolate chips, for example. Hope this helps.
Hedy
I just made this for Passover using the cake meal, potato starch and almond flour. It was absolutely delicious and looked just like the photos. But one thing is not clear from the recipe: if I make this using regular flour instead of cake meal, do I eliminate the potato starch and almond flour? Or do I just eliminate the potato starch but keep the almond flour? This is good enough to eat year round!
Lauren
I made this for Passover, which was hosted by my sister’s in-laws (all Russian Jews). I’m neither Jewish nor Russian but wanted to contribute in a meaningful way. One of the grandmothers exclaimed how these cookies reminded her of her childhood. Success!
Lois
corn starch
cooking for 4
Corn starch or tapioca starch should work but the amount will probably need to be increased by about 1/3.
Risa
Do these turn out okay if frozen after final baking?
Esther R.
Superb! My old friend Morton Mandel used to bake them in the Catskills in the mid sixties. Sadly he passed away at 98 two years ago. Baking this today felt like visiting an old friend: eating it – like the madeleine of the borscht belt.
leslie
I generally only follow recipes for which I already have all of the ingredients and I did indeed have potato starch. I made these delicious cookies as I would biscotti (which simplified the process a bit) Wonderful recipe!
Sophia
Consider not baking the second time.
Phoebe
Passover is not a consideration. Is there a way I can change the balance of the other flours to maximize the almond flour? Or not? Thank you.
SusanK
The freezing after the initial briefer baking was,a game changer for me. More,whole,pieces to eat and no mess of crumbles.
sarah
These wound up really good, but I’ve used other recipes that are much quicker/simpler and yield an equally good result. I subbed the potato starch for corn starch and it worked well. The cookies did come out “flatter” for me than those pictured, but taste was great.
julie
Delicious flavor, and freezing the dough did make it much easier to cut! will definitely make these again. I found I needed to keep the Mandelbrot in the oven for longer than stated for them to really get crunchy
dimmerswitch
Made this as written. It went together exactly as described. Looked just like the photos at outcome. And these are delicious in flavor and texture. Used the flour option (not matzoh meal). Where volume measures and gram weights were provided I used gram weights. Only tricky part was shaping logs in step 3. The recipe takes a little time to do - but some of that is unattended time - but isn't difficult to make. Wouldn't change a thing.
Lauren
I made this for Passover, which was hosted by my sister’s in-laws (all Russian Jews). I’m neither Jewish nor Russian but wanted to contribute in a meaningful way. One of the grandmothers exclaimed how these cookies reminded her of her childhood. Success!
Heidi
The 2-step baking process intimidated me, I admit, but the recipe is easy and forgiving also delicious. I will definitely be making this again. Perhaps next time dipping the finished product in chocolate. I also cut back on the sugar slightly.
Hedy
I just made this for Passover using the cake meal, potato starch and almond flour. It was absolutely delicious and looked just like the photos. But one thing is not clear from the recipe: if I make this using regular flour instead of cake meal, do I eliminate the potato starch and almond flour? Or do I just eliminate the potato starch but keep the almond flour? This is good enough to eat year round!
cooking for 4
Corn starch or tapioca starch should work but the amount will probably need to be increased by about 1/3.
rivka
Wonderful taste and would definitely make these again. Just one thing: I could not get the cinnamon-sugar mixture to stay on the cookies before baking. So after they came out of the oven, I worked the mixture into the cookies as best I could. Not a big deal.
Peter
What did I do wrong? I used coconut oil and followed the directions, but when in the oven the logs flattened out to become large pancakes.
Margaret
Same thing happened to me. I also used coconut oil. I wonder if that is the issue.
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