Mandelbread Made From Almond Flour
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One of my fondest childhood memories was of my mother baking mandelbread on Passover. Naturally, the recipe swapped wheat flour for matzo-based cake meal. This meant that the final product was denser from what she would make during the year. My mother would also flavor the Passover version differently, including adding orange zest, to really make it stand out. On the flip side, the recipe also used imitation vanilla extract.
Since we limit the amount of wheat flour that we consume, especially on Passover, we’ve adapted the custom to using almond flour.
This recipe was adapted from Elana’s Pantry.
½ cup honey
1 large egg
½ tsp real vanilla extract (optional)
2 Tbsp orange zest
3 cups blanched almond flour
¼ tsp Himalayan salt
¼ tsp baking soda
½ cup almonds or walnuts, chopped in a food processor
THE STEPS
Preheat oven to 350°F (or lower, if you have a gas oven that cooks very hot)
In a large mixing bowl, blend egg, honey and optional vanilla with a hand blender
Chop whole nuts by pulsing briefly in a blender or food processor
In another bowl, combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients
Add in the chopped nuts, orange zest
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
On the parchment paper, shape the dough into a long, thin log
Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes (or until brown on the outside)
Remove from oven and let cool completely
Once cooled, cut into 1/3-inch thick slices and lay flat on the parchment paper
Put back in the oven for about 5 minutes on each side
Remove and let cool before serving, so they are crunchy
Note: When we made this batch, our mandelbread log got burned. Our oven bakes very hot, so both temperature and baking time can be be unpredictable. As a result, we only put them back in the oven for 2 minutes on each side after we sliced them. The learning is that, despite setting a timer, we also need to check every 5 minutes or so to sure that the mandelbread log does not suddenly burn to a crisp! I will be posting updated photos when we attempt another batch later this week.
Chag Pesach kasher v’sameach.
