This chocolate hazelnut mandel bread is your morning coffee’s best friend. You may be thinking, hey that looks a lot like biscotti! And you’re right. This is a “Jewish biscotti”. The main difference is that oil is used instead of butter. It makes the crumb a little more tender. This makes for an interesting combination with this type of cookie that’s meant to be a little crunchier.
I’ve always loved having mandel bread during the holidays. My mom had a stained recipe on a sheet of paper from an old Jewish family friend that she kept pinned on a bulletin board in our kitchen. Every year she would make mandel bread with chocolate chips. I love mandel bread and I love chocolate, so I knew I definitely needed to make a chocolate version!
Tips for making chocolate hazelnut mandel bread
The best thing about this recipe is that everything goes in the oven all at once. After making the dough, you will need to chill it for about 4 hours (or overnight). This does a few things: it allows the dry ingredients to soak in the moisture from the wet ingredients and will make the cookies more flavorful. It will also make the dough easier to work with when you’re shaping it into loaves.
You’re going to shape the dough into loaves that are about 1 inch high. Leave about 2 inches of space between the loaves and edges of the pan.
Use parchment paper to line your baking sheet. I usually use silicone baking mats, but in this case you will be slicing the loaves while they’re still on the liner. Best not to bring a knife near a silicone baking mat.
You will bake the loaves once, then let them cool for 10 minutes. Then you will slide the parchment paper onto a cutting board and slice the loaves. Then turn each cookie on its side, and bake again. I only bake for 7 minutes because I want a slightly softer cookie. However, if you want a traditional biscotti texture bake for 20-30 minutes.
I love adding nuts and chocolate chips, but you can also skip the add-ins. Dipping half the cookie in chocolate is also an excellent addition to these cookies.
Looking for other cookie recipes?
Chocolate Hazelnut Mandel Bread
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (313 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (43 g) dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup whole hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place your hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, and bake for 8-12 minutes or until nuts smell fragrant. About 5 minutes in, give the nuts a stir. Let cool and turn off the oven. When they’re cool enough to handle, roughly chop the nuts and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl using an electric mixer, combine the eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add half the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until just combined. Add the other half, again mixing on low until just combined. Stir in the hazelnuts and chocolate chips.
- Scoop dough into a bag or container and let rest in fridge for 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape the dough into 3 rectangular loaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper*. Each loaf should be about 1" high. Leave 2 inches of space between the loaves and edges of the baking sheet.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, but keep the oven on. Let sit for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully drag the parchment paper off the baking sheet onto a cooling rack and let sit for another 5 minutes.
- Slide the parchment paper onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice 3/4” thick loaves at a slight angle. Turn each sliced cookie on its side. Drag the parchment paper back onto the baking sheet. Bake for another 7-30 minutes*.
- Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack for another 5 minutes.
