Mandelbrot: Almond Bread
The Jewish biscotti may have Italian roots.
By Adeena Sussman
It was a long time before I made the connection between
mandelbrot, the twice-baked cookies commonly found in Ashkenazi Jewish
households, and biscotti, the twice-baked cookies of Italian provenance.
It's unclear how and when Ashkenazi Jews began baking mandelbrot, but Joan Nathan, in her book Jewish Cooking in America, suggests that the large Jewish population in Italy's Piedmont region may have been responsible for disseminating the recipe to German friends and family.
Though the term mandelbrot literally means "almond bread," many modern varieties abound, some with the addition of butter, chocolate chips and dried fruit. This is a traditional recipe, similar to the one my grandmother used to serve with steaming glasses of tea.
It was a long time before I made the connection between
mandelbrot, the twice-baked cookies commonly found in Ashkenazi Jewish
households, and biscotti, the twice-baked cookies of Italian provenance. It's unclear how and when Ashkenazi Jews began baking mandelbrot, but Joan Nathan, in her book Jewish Cooking in America, suggests that the large Jewish population in Italy's Piedmont region may have been responsible for disseminating the recipe to German friends and family.
Though the term mandelbrot literally means "almond bread," many modern varieties abound, some with the addition of butter, chocolate chips and dried fruit. This is a traditional recipe, similar to the one my grandmother used to serve with steaming glasses of tea.
No comments:
Post a Comment