Mandel brot (bread) is basically Jewish biscotti. In fact, when Starbucks started selling their packaged biscotti, I said, “Huh? What? That’s mandel bread!” My grandmother (on my dad’s side) made amazing mandel bread, so I recently asked my aunt to dig up the recipe for me. I decided to try and make it for my  daughter’s International Potluck Luncheon at preschool. It turned out great – just like Grandma’s.

Ingredients:

• ½ c butter (1 stick)
• 1 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t almond extract
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 c all purpose flour
• 1 t baking powder
• ½ c chopped almonds or walnuts

Directions:

1. Cream butter & sugar.
2. Add eggs and flavorings and mix well.
3. Add flour, sifted with baking powder.
4. Add nuts
5. Grease cookie sheet.  Form dough into three or four loaves. The loaves don’t spread much during baking – they pretty much keep their shape.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 min.
7. Slice while hot and turn each slice on its side.
8. Return to oven and bake 10 min. longer.