Berkshire— Mandelbrot originated in Northern Italy and is the Italian-Jewish version of biscotti. You will find it a little more chewy, and a trifle richer than traditional biscotti. No surprise for something this delicious, the recipe became a staple of European Jewish baking. Mandelbrot translates to almond bread in both German and Yiddish. Traditionally, it uses almonds, but I like to use walnuts or pecans in this version. You can adapt this recipe to your liking by making it without the cocoa, or you can try a variation using plain dough with pistachios and plump dried cherries, with or without the chocolate chips.
Almond-Flour Mandelbrot
1 cup finely ground almond flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or salt of your choosing. (If not using kosher salt, use a scant ½ tsp salt)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil like soy-based oil (do not use canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup nuts of your choice, chopped coarsely, pecans or walnuts work best
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread a piece of parchment on the bottom of a medium-sized cookie sheet.
Fluff the flour, sugar, salt, and starch with a fork to mix it together evenly.
Beat the egg, oil, and both extracts together.
Add to the flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Separate half the dough into another bowl and add the cocoa powder. Mix together.
Add half the nuts and chocolate chips to each dough mixture. Don’t worry if this stuff tries to fall out of the dough, you can push it back in on the pan.
Make a long (12 to 15 inch) log down the center of the pan from the basic dough. Place the chocolate dough in a log next to and overlapping the first log by half. Press them gently together, pushing any escaping nuts or chips into the log. Keep the log fairly narrow as the dough will spread in the oven.
Bake for 20 minutes or until firmly set. Take the pan out of the oven and let the log cool for 10 minutes.
Using a sharp knife, cut across the log at ¾ inch intervals from one side to the other. It can help to press your fingers gently against the side of the dough nearest you to keep it from breaking as you cut through. If the log wants to break a lot, it is probably too hot to cut. Wait a few minutes and try again. And don’t worry too much if some break. They will taste just as good as the unbroken slices.
Gently turn the slices sideways on the pan with one cut side up, spreading them out to put air between them.
Sprinkle the side that is up with the cinnamon sugar. Pop the pan back into the oven for another five minutes. Pull the pan out and carefully flip over the Mandelbrot. Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar and bake for another five minutes.
Cool thoroughly before storing in an airtight container. These will keep well for a week (but probably won’t last that long!)
