Mammy’s Orange and Chocolate Chip Mandel Bread

I am not really sure what differentiates mandel bread from biscotti. This recipe doesn’t contain any dairy ingredients, so maybe mandel breads are biscotti that are more easily incorporated into a Kosher diet? Regardless of what you decide to call these cookies, they will be crisp and tasty. This recipe is from my grandmother, Mammy, and I can remember eating these cookies throughout most of my life. I brought them to a gathering recently, and someone said that they tasted just like her grandmother’s. Mission accomplished.

To make these cookies, preheat your oven to 350ºF. Then, combine in a bowl 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 tablespoons of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of orange zest, 2 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of anise extract. In a second bowl, combine 2.5 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet mixture and stir them until they are combined. Add in 1 cup of chocolate chips, and mix them in too.

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Divide the dough in half, and place one half on each baking sheet. With floured hands, shape each lump of dough into a log.

Bake the logs for 20 minutes until they are solid. The dough will rise a lot! Let the logs cool for 10 minutes on racks. Reduce your oven’s temperature to 325ºF.

When the logs are cool enough to handle, place them on a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slice them on the diagonal into 1/2 to 1 inch cookies.

Place the sliced cookies back on the baking sheets with one of the cut sides down. Bake them for about 5 minutes or until the top side of a cookie feels a little crisp. Then, flip the cookies over and bake them for 5 minutes on the other side. After this time, the cookies should feel mostly firm to the touch. They will continue to crisp up as they cool. These cookies are addictively good, and eating them fills me with good memories. I hope you create good memories around them too.

Shopping list:

  • Olive oil- 2 tablespoons
  • Orange- 1 (3 tablespoons of juice and 1 tablespoon of zest)
  • Anise extract- 1 teaspoon
  • Eggs- 2
  • Sugar- 1 cup
  • Flour- 2.5 cups
  • Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
  • Baking soda- 1 teaspoon
  • Salt
  • Chocolate chips- 1 cup
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Comments

Mammy’s Orange and Chocolate Chip Mandel Bread — 2 Comments

  1. Now what do I do????? Everyone here wants mandlebread and I’ve gotten
    So lazy. I used to pack up 6 to 8 of these and given them to friends, of course,
    Family got most. I’d love to reach in the screen (as usual) and dip some of
    These in a cup of coffee or tea, but alas, impossible. Maybe now that it’s
    Getting cooler THANK G-D, I’ll get unlazy. You did an awesome job on a
    Great recipe. Go Witty!!!! So very proud of you!!!!
    going to Wegman’s today. What a supermarket. No other like it. Going to
    Buy and try goat cheese.

    Love you so—— much!
    Mammy

  2. By the way—you are a balabusta and a beirya. Now, ask your BB (beautiful
    Bubbe) and David’s Beautiful Nana for definitions.

    Love you, love you, love you

    Mammy

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