~Mandelbrot-ish Cookies~

What is it? Well, in short, it is a cookie/biscuit. It is baked, sliced, then baked again on both sides for a delicious little snack with coffee or whatever. Mr. Shecky’s Grandma Celia baked it for the holidays and Mrs. Shecky just likes to bake them and enjoy. The taste has a close relation to the Biscotti but Mrs. Shecky doesn’t want to get beat up over that tale so she won’t go there for purposes of wanting her hands for baking and such.

It is worthy to note this is Mrs. Shecky’s recipe derived from Grandma Celia’s. Mrs. Shecky wants to point out to those Mandelbrot pros that she uses butter in this recipe – in an authentic recipe, oil is used, hence, Mandelbrot-ish. She has used the oil recipes and just loves them too, so here is hers:

Equipment

• Mixer

Ingredients  

• ½ c Unsalted Butter Softened
• ¾ c Sugar
• 3 Eggs Large
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tbsp Orange Zest Optional
• 3 c All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 c Nuts *See Notes* Optional

Instructions 

• Preheat Oven to 350°
• Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets. *We don’t want those tasties to stick*

Mix Together With A Whisk:

• Blend together flour, baking powder, and salt (dry ingredients). Just blend them with a whisk, that’ll work. Put it aside until ready to add to the mixer.

Blend Together With A Mixer:

• Cream the softened butter and sugar together and then add one egg at a time to it. Add the vanilla and zest and continue to blend for about 3-5 minutes.

Combine Ingredients:

• With the mixer on low *so as not to get flour all over you*, bit by bit, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and blend together in the mixer until smooth.*At this point you can add your nuts to mix them in* Blend until smooth.

Dough

• Lightly flour a surface and turn out the dough. Knead a little bit and divide the dough in half and form 2 long, flat-ish loaves. About 3 inches or so and just over 1 inch high. Nothing here needs to be perfect but these cookies are meant to be long pieces.

Bake

• Put one loaf on each pan. Note: if you have a larger sheet pan the loaves will do just fine on one of these. They spread a bit so give the loaves a little room.
• At 350° put your loaves into the oven and bake for approximate 30 minutes. You might need a couple of minutes more or less depending on your oven, but 30 minutes is my timer to cook the first round of this recipe.

After 30 minutes take out the loaves and cool for about 15 minutes

Slice – For The Next Round Of Baking

• When the loaves are cool enough to handle, slice them CAREFULLY into approximately ½” slices. Do this on the diagonal if you can. Take your time and enjoy this part. These cookies are delicate at this point and like to crumble sometimes. They should also be a little soft on the inside. Remember, we are putting these back into the oven. Use that serrated knife and saw gently.
• Before placing the slices back on the sheets, wipe out the cookie sheets of any left over crumbs. They will burn and you don’t want that during the second bake.
• Place slices back on the sheets (you might have to bake in batches). Place them flat side down.

Bake

• Bake them for about 5-7 minutes until golden brown THEN
• Take them out and turn them over to bake again for about 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Watch them because again, you don’t want these tasties to burn.

Remove And Cool Completely

Store In An Airtight Container.

Notes

 Remember these are twice baked and can get a little crumbly.  They are a dry cookie.Cut carefully through the nuts.  If you don’t add nuts this is easier but these are still meant to be a drier cookie.  Take your time, sing a song.Depending on your slicing you can get a good 30 cookies or more from this recipe. Watch your bake via your oven’s timing.This recipe is easier than it looks in writing.  Do a few versions with different additions such as semi sweets or a different nut or cranberries and raisins.  Change your extract to almond or even maple!   Why not… your kitchen will be dirty anyway!  Just watch your golden brown – you got this!These are great for a good week in an airtight container and are delicious with coffee and tea.  Because of that, these are great ‘make ahead’ snacks for that unexpected coffee or tea person. *Nuts:  you know your body better.  Don’t use them if you don’t like or are allergic.  Substitute or not – it is all up to you.  This is an easy recipe for that choice. 

Enjoy! 

If you are curious about the variances of this great little cookie, I have a link here to Wikipedia to read more on it. There are so many variations of this treat it is always fun to seek out where it really came from. The link to that is: Mandelbrot.

I has certainly been awhile since I posted a recipe so I hope you enjoy it.