Make Ahead
Uncle Jack's Mandel Bread
- Prep time 30 minutes
- Cook time 40 minutes
- makes 6 loaves
Author Notes
As a child, I so looked forward to when my Uncle Jack would come to our house, at Hanukah he would have a loaf of mandel bread with him. Those visits were a special treat, Uncle Jack’s mandel bread was pretty much my favorite food in the world, second only to…..Twizzlers. Orange juice dough, candied cherries, almonds and raisins – a whole lot of yumminess! The best was when a slice was cut in a way that a whole cherry was included…I can still feel the excitement I felt then.
Uncle Jack's mandel bread has become part of my family's Hanukah tradition. It has also become my most-requested Christmas gift from my Christian friends. Everyone loves mandel bread!
A great thing about mandel bread, it freezes very well. In fact, it doesn’t actually freeze, so we tend to keep ours in the freezer and eat it directly from there. —Andrea Kreiner
Ingredients
-
3/4 cup
Canola Oil
-
1 1/2 cups
Sugar
-
3
Eggs, large
-
3 teaspoons
Baking Powder
-
1/6 cup
Warm Water
-
1/3 cup
Orange Juice
-
3 tablespoons
Lemon Juice
-
1 teaspoon
Vanilla
-
1 cup
Raisins, mixed colors
-
1 cup
Candied Cherries
-
12 ounces
Whole Almonds
-
1/2 teaspoon
Kosher Salt
-
4 - 6 cups
All-Purpose Flour, enough to make stiff dough
-
2 tablespoons
Cinnamon
-
2 tablespoons
Sugar
Directions
- Heat oven to 375F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs. baking powder, water, orange juice, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Stir in raisins, cherries, almonds and salt.
- Stir in flour, start with 2 cups, mix well then add 1 cup at a time, stirring each time until the dough is very stiff and fairly dry. If the dough is still sticky but very stiff, you can add in a touch of flour each time you are forming a loaf.
- Shape into loaves about 1-inch thick. The loaves can be big or small. Bigger loaves just take a little longer to bake. I tend to make a mix of large and small loaves (but bake the large and small loaves separately). Place on lined cookie sheets.
- Mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle on the top of the loaves.
- Bake each tray of loaves for 20 – 25 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown. Note: I have had loaves take as little as 15 minutes and as long as 1/2 hour. Just be careful not to burn them.
- Slice horizontally into ~1″ thick slices.
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