If you think biscotti is too hard, you are not wrong. It is hard on purpose. Traditional Italian biscotti uses little or no fat, so the second bake leaves it rigid. It was designed to be dunked, and without the dunk it is a workout.
Plenty of people love that. If you are not one of them, there is a cookie for you, and it has existed for two hundred years. You have probably just never heard of it.
Meet the softer alternative
Mandel bread is a twice-baked cookie from the Ashkenazi Jewish kitchens of Eastern Europe. Same idea as biscotti. Bake the dough as a log, slice it, bake it again.
One difference changes everything: mandel bread is made with oil. The oil interrupts the drying that the second bake would otherwise finish, so you keep the crunch and lose the rigidity. We describe it as a softer biscotti: a delicate crunch on the outside, softer on the inside.
You can dunk it in coffee, and it holds up well. You can also just eat it. It does not need the dunk.
Why the difference exists
It was not a texture decision. It was likely a kosher one.
Many Ashkenazi households kept kosher, which means no dairy at a meal with meat. Butter was out. Oil was the answer, and the softer cookie came with it. Two hundred years later, that practical choice is the reason mandel bread eats the way it does.
What stays the same
Everything you like about biscotti survives:
- The crunch. Still there at the edge. Just not rigid all the way through.
- The coffee pairing. Still the best thing on the saucer.
- The keeping. Twice-baked means it stays fresh for a long time and travels without falling apart.
- The shape. Same sliced-loaf profile. It looks like a more relaxed biscotti, because that is what it is.
What to expect the first time
Less snap, more give. The flavors run different too. Traditional mandel bread uses almonds and cinnamon rather than anise. Ours comes in chocolate-chip, almond, funfetti, and a gluten-free chocolate-chip, all from one family recipe.
That recipe is Grandma Jeanne's. She made mandel bread her whole life, baked well into her nineties, and lived to 102. She packed her suitcase with desserts instead of clothes so she could share them wherever she went. Four generations later we bake it by hand in South Denver.
Frequently asked questions
Why is biscotti so hard?
Traditional biscotti uses little or no fat and is baked twice, which removes most of its moisture. It was designed to be softened by dunking in coffee or wine.
Is there a softer version of biscotti?
Mandel bread is a twice-baked Jewish cookie made with oil, which gives it a delicate crunch outside and a softer inside. It is the closest thing to a soft biscotti that exists as its own tradition.
Is mandel bread just soft biscotti?
They are related, not the same cookie. Mandel bread is Ashkenazi Jewish, about two hundred years old, and developed its softer texture from using oil instead of butter or dry dough.
Can you eat mandel bread without dunking it?
Yes. Unlike traditional biscotti, mandel bread is soft enough to eat on its own.
Try the softer side
New to mandel bread? Start with what mandel bread is, see the full biscotti comparison, or go straight to the gift boxes. Denver locals can order right on our site, and we ship locally. Everywhere else ships through Goldbelly.