I'm looking for a recipe for a cookie my host called "schpaindel" - it's a very thin version of biscotti and is Jewish in origin. HELP!

Thank you, ladies, for your suggestions and links. I'm going to do some experimenting using your direction as my starting point. I'll report back once I've perfected it!

I've checked a few old cookbooks on my shelf (Sentinel Jewish Cook Book, 1936 and Jewish Cookery, Leah Leonard, 1949) and don't find references to schpaindel.

I agree that it sounds like a corruption of mandelbrot (means almond bread in Yiddish), which was a ubiquitous treat in Ashkenazi kitchens (Jews from Eastern Europe). It is very much like biscotti. Once it is baked and cooled, slice it and then toast it for that dunking crispness. Here's a recipe that looks pretty good (I have not tried it): http://www.food.com/recipe/mandelbrot-322392. It has almond and lemons flavors - and avoids such atrocities as chocolate chips.

Hmm. I grew up on mandelbrot, made by both my Russian and Hungarian Jewish grandmothers. Neither cut them particularly thin nor baked them in a loaf pan. They were very much like biscotti - 1st bake was the dough formed into a log on a sheet pan, second bake was sliced. Also, the logs were cooled a bit before slicing, but never frozen.

Maybe this is a relative of mandelbrot - from another Eastern European location? Or maybe it's a variation particular to your host's family?

Sounds like mandelbrot? Maybe from a different part of Europe.... Chow recently ran a recipe for Raincrunch Crackers that might work. Baked in a loaf pan and thinly sliced and baked again. The two of us ate the entire recipe in two days. Beware. :)
http://www.chow.com/digest/74479/diy-fancy-crackers-on-the-cheap/