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Aunt Sandy's Mandel Bread from The Jewish Kitchen
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Aunt Sandy's Mandel Bread

Traditional biscotti-shaped cookies that are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. These can be made with chocolate chunks, nuts, or dried fruit, and are perfect for dunking in coffee, milk, or as a decorative touch to an already decadent mousse or ice-cream dessert.
Course Desserts
Cuisine Jewish
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 24 cookies

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter unsalted, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs at room temperature
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips - any kind you like I combine 3/4 cup semi-sweet and 3/4 cup milk chocolate
  • Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Slowly add eggs, one at a time until each egg is well incorporated. Add vanilla extract.
  3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly combine flour mixture, one cup at a time, mixing slowly. Add lemon juice.
  4. Add chocolate chips. Do not over mix batter.
  5. Grease large cookie sheet or line sheet with silicone mat and form two to three loaves (depending upon how large you like your cookies), leaving a few inches between each (you might want to use two cookie sheets if you need more room).
  6. Bake for 30 minutes.
  7. Remove cookie sheet and let cool on baking rack for 5 minutes. Slice cookies into 1 inch slices and turn each cookie on its side. Bake for another 10 minutes.
  8. Remove from oven and cool on baking rack. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving.
  9. Note: To make these extra special, you can also dip them in melted chocolate and sprinkles: microwave 1 cup of chocolate chips until smooth and then dip one end of each cookie into the melted chocolate and then into sprinkles if desired. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper and cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set before serving.

Recipe Notes

Arrange on a nice platter, cake stand or plate. I like to plate these with some large strawberries or other brightly-colored fruit to make the platter really come together nicely. Another fun thing to do is to stick a cookie into the top scoop of an ice cream sundae or pudding dessert for a decorative touch...it's always a fun surprise when it arrives on the table.