Mandel Bread with Marzipan & Sea Salt
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A few weeks ago I received a surprise in the mail, a box of cookies with a note from some friends saying they were joining in on Dorie Greenspan’s #cookiesforkindness project — to bake and to share and to be kind just because. How nice?
I immediately wanted to play along, so I made a double batch of Molly Yeh’s mandel bread with marzipan and sea salt from her new book, Molly on the Range, one topped with sprinkles, one with pearl sugar. I gathered all of my kindness-sharing supplies — kraft boxes, tissue paper, baker’s twine — and set up an assembly line to package the many delicious slices, but it soon became clear that the little ones in the house would not allow me to spread SO much kindness. The sprinkly treats disappeared before I could even think abut a post office run.
Mandel bread, also known as mandelbrodt, which literally means “almond bread”, is a traditional Jewish twice-baked cookie originating from Eastern Europe and, from what I gather, is typically softer than biscotti due to a higher amount of oil or butter. In Molly’s version, the loaves of dough are coated with sprinkles or pearl sugar AND sea salt just before baking, which makes them particularly addictive, and the inclusion of marzipan creates pockets of intense almond flavor and a lovely softness throughout, which speaks to my soft-batch-biscotti-loving heart.
Confession: I can’t blame my children for preventing me from sharing the cookie kindness: Having a jar of mandel bread on the counter has been such a treat every morning, the biggest incentive to prep the coffee every evening before going to bed, just the motivation I need to rise in the dark, tiptoe into the kitchen, and cozy up to the breakfast table before the chaos of the day begins.
Molly’s book, by the way, is so much fun — beautiful, joyful, playful, and creative, just like her blog. There are two amazing giveaways still happening over there if you preorder her book before October 4th: one for adorable tattoos, and one for sprinkles.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Sprinkles + Sea Salt = Genius:
The recipe suggests a half cup of cacao nibs or dark chocolate, but I found a bar of this Sharffen Berger bar made with chocolate AND cacao nibs, which seemed like the best of both worlds, so I used it. And I also used almond paste in place of marzipan, which worked beautifully.
Batter with chocolate:
Very focused mandel bread eaters:
Mandel Bread with Marzipan & Sea Salt
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 28 cookies
Description
From Molly Yeh’s Molly on the Range I’ve made two versions: one without chocolate topped with sprinkles and sea salt — these were the kids’ favorite, probably because I used dark chocolate in the other one. I loved both, so tailor the fillings/toppings to your liking.
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 ounces marzipan or almond paste
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 3¼ cups (416 g) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup flavorless oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract, optional—I didn’t have any
- ½ cup cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips, optional, see notes above
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
- Sprinkles or pearl sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Cut the marzipan into ½-inch pieces and toss with the powdered sugar. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil until combined. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, and then whisk in the vanilla and almond extract, if using. Use a wooden spoon to gradually mix in the flour mixture, marzipan, and cacao nibs or chocolate chips. (This dough can be made the night before and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use.)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and place on the lined baking sheet. Mold the dough into two 14 x 3-inch rectangles about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle the tops with a few pinches of sea salt and pearl sugar or sprinkles.
- Bake until the centers are set and the bottoms are lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 250ºF. Let the mandel bread cool slightly and then use a sharp serrated knife to cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Turn the slices on their sides and bake for 20 more minutes, or until desired crispness. Let cool slightly and enjoy with coffee, hot chocolate, or tea.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
Another peak into Molly on the Range: Egg in a Hole Perfection.
Toast the bread on both sides, add the egg, cover the pan, cook until done:
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
25 Comments on “Mandel Bread with Marzipan & Sea Salt”
The picture of your kids eating mondel breit – I love it!
They were so sad when that jar went empty …
Do you have a “pin” button I’m not seeing? Thanks.
Hover over the image with your mouse … does a “save it” button appear in the upper-left corner?
I know a similar recipe called Mandelbrot. Both , you and Molly have gorgeous blogs. I enjoy reading them.
Thank you, Gerlinde! You are kind 🙂
The sprinkles are so fun! And I’m with you. If I could wake up every morning to coffee and biscotti/mandel bread, I would be a happy happy happy person 🙂 xo
Words can’t express how much I love that photo of your little mandel bread eaters! It’s the sweetest. So happy to have discovered your blog via Molly recently, and so excited to keep reading 🙂
Cynthia, thank you 🙂 🙂 🙂 Molly is the greatest. I have been reading your blog for some time now. It is always such a lovely read! I especially loved your mashed potato and bacon pizza post, because my husband and I essentially fell in love over Bar pizza, that pie in particular. Thank you for your kind words. Baby must be arriving soon?! So excited for THAT post. xo
Hello! I’ve made these a few times and they are so good and so easy!
I have a question though. Do you think it’ll work out okay if I were to do the whole first part, not cut it, store it in the fridge overnight and finish the steps the next morning? I really wanna take these to class but there is no way i can do the entire process in the morning. Any thoughts appreciated! 🙂
Hey! Sorry for the delay here. Yes, absolutely! I do this with my favorite biscotti recipe, too!
Used almond paste, no chocolate, and sprinkles. Delivered to friends. They got rave reviews!
Wonderful to hear this Bea!
Wow. I didn’t know about mandel bread until I saw this recipe. It fixes everything I do know love about biscotti – tender instead of dry, rich instead of dry. I used olive oil, the flavor went well with the dark chocolate and hazelnut/almond mix I used. I think without the olive oil flavor this would have been bland for us. Next batch I am going to use coconut oil, dark chocolate and cherries using the same weight proportions, so I can use the original recipe as a template.
So nice to hear this, Nisha! Coconut oil with dark chocolate and cherries sounds amazing. Thanks for writing!
As an update, I made the recipe but swapping out the add-ins for fresh grated coconut, dark chocolate chips and unsweetened dried cherries. I swapped the oil for coconut oil. This is a great formula to tweak.
This combination sounds so good. Thanks so much for sharing, Nisha!
I just got back from a trip to Israel where we were visiting during Hanukkah. I thought this cookie would make a nice addition to my cookie tray and remind us of our trip. I loved how they turned out. One comment on the recipe. I used a 7-oz roll of marzipan, which is my first time working with it. The recipe says to cut the marzipan into 1/2″ pieces. This is a mix by hand recipe and I really struggled to break down the chunks of marzipan and fully incorporate it into the dough. Despite my efforts, the finished product still ended up with chunks of marzipan. The cookies are terrific, but I’d like some advice on what to do differently next year with the marzipan. Thanks!
Hi Bee! Great question. I have to admit I have not made these in a while, but I totally see your point. I don’t see why we couldn’t either run it through the food processor quickly or simply crumble it up with our hands till it’s the size or peas or smaller before using it. I hope that helps. Great to hear you loved the cookies even so! Thanks for writing.
Can this be made vegan? Thanks!!
Hi Sara,
I haven’t tried, but I imagine a vegan egg substitute would work just fine.
I made it with Just Egg, just fantastic!! Thank you.
Wow, awesome! Thanks so much for sharing… so helpful for others.
Hi Alexandra: I believe I made this recipe last year but I have lost the recipe and any comments I made on it. I tried it because I thought it was like a mandel bread I had bought in a grocery store down here (Florida) but cannot find again. Anyway, the bread I bought was different from a biscotti in that it was very soft in the middle, gooey and soft almond pasty and the covering was just a little crusty, barely browned. I fell in love with it and had been looking for a recipe for years. When I found yours, I tried it and it was very close. I recall writing to the website asking questions and that person did answer. Is there any way you can check if you received an inquiry from me? My name is Iris Rose. If so, what was your reply? I feel like this is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Hope it was you!!
Hi Iris, I just searched my email and the blog comments for “Iris Rose” and your most recent comment is the only one that is showing up. If you have an email address that you are certain you used while making the inquiries, send it along, and I can search again. Otherwise, I think you will love these. The center is soft, not hard like biscotti.