Jewish Chocolate Almond Mandel Bread (Mandelbrot)

Course: Bread

Cuisine: European

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 1

Total Time: 1 25

Servings: pieces of full-size biscotti

Calories: 143kcal

Author: Marvellina

Learn how to make this twice-baked Jewish chocolate almond Mandel bread drizzled with chocolate. This chocolate almond Mandel bread is a must-try!

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for a conventional oven. If you have a convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F or 15 C. Position one of the oven rack 3rd from the top and the other one 3rd from the bottom if you are going to bake two trays at the same time. Otherwise, just position one rack in the middle of the oven if you only bake one tray
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Dissolve instant espresso powder in hot water. Set aside to let it cool down a bit
Whisk all the dry ingredients together to combine
Combine dark brown sugar, sugar, oil, vanilla extract, whole egg, egg yolk, and espresso in a bowl using a hand mixer on high speed until light, about 5 minutes. You can whisk this manually by hand too. Add the instant espresso and whisk to combine.
Sift in the dry ingredient and fold all ingredients together using a sturdy spatula until they are well-combined and you don't see any pockets or dry bits of flour. Fold in the chopped almond and chocolate
The dough is actually going to be wet and sticky.
Use a spatula and scoop half of the dough onto a baking sheet you have lined up with parchment paper.
Spray the spatula and your palms with non-stick spray and use them to help you shape the sticky dough to about 12-14 inches in length and about 2-2 1/2 inches wide. It's not going to be a perfect rectangular, but no worries there
Repeat the same with the other half of the dough. Scoop it to another prepared baking sheet

Place the baking sheets at the position racks and bake for 25-30 minutes and rotate the pan halfway through baking, top to bottom, front to back if you bake two trays. The bread should be dry to touch at the end of baking
Remove from the oven and let them cool down for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 250 F (120 C) for a conventional oven. For a convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F or 15 C
Use a serrated knife to slice the bread at a diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices. You may roughly get about 9-10 whole pieces and 2 smaller end pieces (which you can snack on as your treat)
If you prefer a "soft-baked" texture, you can skip the second baking and go straight to "cooling" step

Turn the cut-side on their sides and bake for another 20 minutes. Don't judge doneness straight from the oven. They may appear still soft but please note that they do crisp up further as they cool down. So you don't want to bake them too long either

Let the bread cool down completely on a cooling rack and they will crisp up further

Put chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave at a 30 seconds interval until you see there are still few chips that almost melted but not quite. Continue stirring the the chocolate will melt
Drizzle the bread with melted chocolate. Let the chocolate set and then store them in an air-tight container for 2 weeks. They were gone in one day at our house LOL!