Mandel bread tastes lightly sweet and warm with cinnamon, with a delicate crunch on the outside that gives way to a softer middle. The shortest description we have: biscotti meets cookie.
Describing a cookie in words is a losing game, but people ask us constantly, so here is the honest attempt.
The texture, first
Texture is most of what makes mandel bread itself. It is twice-baked, so the outside has a delicate crunch, but it is made with oil, so the middle stays tender. The first bite snaps lightly and then softens. Nothing about it fights your teeth, which is the polite way of saying it is not biscotti.
Dunked in coffee, the outside drinks a little and the middle holds. Undunked, it is complete on its own. That balance is the whole trick, and it is two hundred years old.
The flavor
The base is honest pantry flavors: lightly sweet, warm with cinnamon, rounded out with vanilla and a subtle brightness from orange juice in the dough. That last one surprises people. You would not name it blind, but you would miss it if it left.
It is noticeably less sweet than an American cookie. This is dessert built for adults with coffee, not a frosting delivery system, and the restraint is why you can eat three pieces without regret. People routinely do.
Flavor by flavor
- Chocolate-Chip. The flagship and the family favorite. Real chocolate chips in the lightly cinnamoned dough, closer to a sophisticated chocolate chip cookie than to any biscotti.
- Almond. The traditionalist. Real almond pieces and almond extract with the cinnamon, closest to what mandel bread tasted like a century ago.
- Funfetti. The same dough with rainbow sprinkles and no apologies. The kids' favorite, and several adults' quiet favorite.
- Gluten-Free Chocolate-Chip. The stealth one. Most people cannot pick it out of a lineup, which is the entire goal.
What it is closest to
If you know biscotti: softer, less sweet than the coated ones, no anise. If you know mandelbrot from a grandmother's kitchen: yes, that, maybe a little softer than your grandma's, because we keep the second bake on the gentle side. And we mean the grandmother part literally, because ours is Grandma Jeanne's recipe, baked by hand in South Denver. She baked well into her nineties and lived to 102, and the recipe tastes like someone who had decades to get it right.
Frequently asked questions
What does mandel bread taste like?
Lightly sweet with warm cinnamon and vanilla, a delicate crunch on the outside and a softer middle. It is less sweet than typical American cookies and built to pair with coffee or tea.
Is mandel bread sweet?
Gently. It is noticeably less sweet than a standard cookie, which is part of why it pairs so well with coffee and why it is easy to eat more than one piece.
Does mandel bread taste like biscotti?
They are related, but mandel bread is softer, usually cinnamon-forward rather than anise-flavored, and does not require dunking.
What flavors does mandel bread come in?
Traditionally almond. Ours comes in Chocolate-Chip, Almond, Funfetti, and Gluten-Free Chocolate-Chip, all from one family recipe.
Words only get you so far
The Grandma Jeanne Sampler has all four flavors, which is the actual answer to this question. Denver locals can order right on our site, and we ship locally. Everywhere else ships through Goldbelly. Or read what mandel bread is first.