Savoring stories: Aunt Sophie’s mandel bread

I inherited this recipe from my wife’s Aunt Sophie Schur. Sophie learned this recipe from her mother and she carried it with her from her family’s boarding house in Spring Valley, New York, to Chicago to San Diego and finally to Bloomfield, Connecticut. I have baked hundreds of pieces for family, friends and for numerous luncheons at Temple Beth El in West Hartford, Connecticut. It will now be a recipe I look forward to making often with my grandchildren since moving to Pittsburgh, my new home since January 2024.

Aunt Sophie’s recipe called for vanilla flavoring, but my family prefers almond flavoring. I use dried cranberries, but you could use chopped candied cherries just as well and even throw in a handful of semi-sweet chocolate bits.

The recipe doesn’t require a lot of prep and can be made in one bowl, and you can create whatever kind of glaze you want. I prefer a glaze made with powdered sugar mixed with milk or oat milk. The mandel bread can also be made dairy or pareve and even gluten-free using gluten-free flour.

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The cookies keep well for a couple of weeks in an airtight container and freeze well for at least a couple of months.

For a friend of mine who couldn’t consume flavorings, I used the grated rind and juice of one lemon as a substitute.

Aunt Sophie’s mandel bread
1 stick softened butter or margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 heaping teaspoon almond flavoring
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
dash baking soda
3/4 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Cream butter or margarine and sugar together well and beat in eggs, then add almond flavoring.

Add in flour, baking powder and baking soda and blend well.

Stir in cranberries and almonds and blend them into the dough mixture.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.

Cover a 10-inch-by-14-inch baking pan with foil and spray with a vegetable spray.

By handfuls, shape the dough into logs, 1 inch in diameter, and roll them on a plate spread with granulated sugar, then link the pieces together to form 2 14-inch long logs.

Place each log against the side of the baking sheet because the dough tends to spread as it bakes. If I have extra dough I make a shorter log and place that down the middle of the baking sheet.

Bake in a preheated 325 F oven until the cookie becomes a rich golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack for about 45 minutes, but no longer, because the cookie will become too hard to cut.

On a diagonal, cut the logs into pieces about ¾-inch wide.

I make a glaze using a cup of powdered sugar, a couple of teaspoons of milk and a drop of almond flavoring and drizzle it decoratively over the cookies. The glaze can be colored to make it suitable for different holidays. A chocolate glaze also works well.

Each recipe yields at least 30 pieces. PJC

Do you have a tried-and-true dish that comes with an interesting origin story? If so, we want to hear from you! Submit recipes along with their backstories to newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, and write “Recipe” in the subject line. Please include a photo of the dish. You may see your submission as part of our column “Savoring Stories”!