The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

ITJB Week 9: Mandelbroyt (p. 241) -- 1/28/12 - 2/4/12

Urchina's picture
Urchina

ITJB Week 9: Mandelbroyt (p. 241) -- 1/28/12 - 2/4/12

Cookie Monster is a well-loved friend in this house, and so I'm looking forward to making this one. I'm especially intrigued by the idea of making loaves of the cookies, then cutting them when cool -- this isn't a cookie technique common in my family of origin, though I realize it's pretty common elsewhere. 

As always, I'm interested in seeing what everyone else comes up with, too!

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

baked together again.... and we enjoyed making this biscotti-est... cookie. The mandelbroyt was a raving success for all 3 of us... 

 

I (gmagmabaking2) made these plain ones... and Helen (gmabaking2) added chocolate chips and sliced almonds on top... gmabaking added dried fruit... Each of us liked the result and our friends and family agree that this is a keeper among recipes.

Another Challenge Met gleefully, and I am getting the knack of posting pictures. Yes!!

blinsen's picture
blinsen

These look fantastic.  I baked biscotti this weekend, and am communing with your mandelbroyt right now.  We roll ours out only to the thickness of a broom handle before we do the first bake, which yields much smaller, and many more, cookies.  This is primarily for the little ones, with little hands and nothing like second helpings!  I see no almonds inside, though.  Are you brushing then applying them individually after the second bake?  That's patience, and of course - they're gorgeous!

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I am hoping that you were referring to our "3 sisters" post... those are separate bakings... we bake together (by long distance) the center picture is my sister Helen's in Ft. Worth, TX with the almonds on center and chocolate chips inside (gmabaking2)... the top picture belongs to my sister Barb in Colville, WA, she has minced glazed fruit in hers, and the bottom picture are my plain ones, as we love that lemony almondy taste to be unenhanced.... so I can see where that could have looked a bit confusing... thanks for the nice comment -- We are really enjoying the challenge baking. Barb (gmabaking)... was one of the test bakers for the book while it was being created. She challenged us to get involved and we are having weekly "baking together days," and endless cyber conversations and messaging pictures etc.... thanks again. 

Diane (aka gmagmabaking2)

cheesehappens's picture
cheesehappens

Maybe better. Oy. I can't stop eating this.

But let's back up for a moment. I didn't have any non-fat milk powder, so I substituted milk for water. I also used my usual organic shortening. Not sure if either of those variables contributed to the need to use 22 ounces of flour, instead of the 16 prescribed in the recipe, to get a dough I could handle. I also used semi-sweet chocolate chips and sliced almonds on top. Everything about this mandelbrot is perfect: sweet to salt ratio, texture, and ease of slicing. This is a recipe (I fear!) I will use again and again.

 

Nici's picture
Nici

I wish, yet again, that I had read other people's posts before I started.  My mixture was never going to be called dough, I should have added more flour like cheesehappens.    I ladled it onto my baking tray and sort of poked it into shape.  One had almonds on the top, and the other just sugar.  For both of them I used glace cherries and pineapple, and walnuts. They cooked in no time at all, and of course I just had to cut the ugly end bits off, and ate them straight away -  lovely, really very more- ish. 

carlene's picture
carlene

I really enjoyed these cookies, they weren’t too sweet.  I used hazelnuts in the dough and added chocolate chips and candied orange peel to part of the dough, and only chocolate chips to another one and left one plain.  The chocolate and orange combination was good, but I actually liked the plain one the best.  The subtle taste of the lemon was overpowered with the chocolate.  I covered the loaves with sugar before baking and washed them with simple syrup when I took them out of the oven.   I didn’t add extra flour and I could barley handle my dough, but was able to shape it into loaves.   The loaves do spread quite a bit in the oven.  The loaves were beautiful just out of the oven and I think the taste of the cookie actually improved after the first day.  They were a hit at work.  Several commented on the nice soft texture.  Because they looked like biscotti, the expectation was that they would be hard and crisp.  This is another recipe that I will bake again.

Carlene

bonnibakes's picture
bonnibakes

In my family Mandelbroyt was like biscotti...twice baked with almonds. I realized this recipe was going in another direction soon after we started baking. The end result was quite delicious, but closer to a coffee ring in taste with a soft cake-like texture.

The only similarity was the shape of the cut slices.

Everyone who tasted it was dissapointed because their family experience was also a biscotti type cookie. Then I noticed the recipe on the adjourning page for Kamishbroyt, a term no one had heard before. I baked that recipe and it was indeed the cookie we had all been seeking. The dough was not so wet and was easily shaped...

and after the second bake, we were treated to the true Mandlebroyt, like Grandma made.

I've writen about this at length, with lots of pictures, on my blog that is documenting our baking adventures in this challenge.   bonnibakesbrooklyn.blogspot.com

Bonni