Cinnamon-Chocolate Mandelbrot

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole almonds
• 1/2 cup trans-free margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons granular sugar substitute
• 1/4 cup undiluted orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp grated orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips

Makes 2 dozen cookies

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Place almonds on a baking sheet and bake until fragrant and lightly toasted, about 8 minutes. Cool and coarsely chop.
2. Combine margarine, 1/4 cup of the sugar substitute, orange juice concentrate, eggs, zest, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
3. In a large bowl, sift together whole-grain and all-purpose flours, baking powder, 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and salt. Stir in chopped almonds and chocolate. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and stir just to combine. Using your hands, knead the dough gently until it sticks togeter and forms a ball. Divide dough in half and shape each half into an 8-inch-long log. Place logs on a baking sheet and press each gently to flatten to 1-inch thickness. Bake logs for 20 minutes, remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar substitute and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
4. When logs are cool, use a serrated knife to cut each log crosswise into 12 pieces. Lay cookies flat on the baking sheet and sprinkle the tops evenly with the cinnamon mixture. Bake until cookies are lightly golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and serve.

WW POINTS VALUE: 2 pts

 

Note: This recipe appears in the South Beach Diet Parties & Holidays Cookbook. It's Hannukah, I was craving something sweet and I wanted to make something special. I'm not Jewish but I wanted to try something new. I made these cookies last night and they were delicious. My mother loved these cookies too. Mandelbrot is a twice-baked cookie associated with Eastern European Jews that literally means almond bread. It's made by forming dough into a loaf, baking it, slicing the loaf into oblong cookies and baking again. The crunchy, dry cookies were popular in Eastern Europe among rabbis, merchants and other itinerant Jews as a staple dessert that kept well. I really loved this cookie because the combination of the almonds, chocolate, cinnamon, orange juices and zest, and vanilla make this cookie a new guilty pleasure for the holiday season. Mandelbrot is a twice-baked cookie that's similar to the Italian biscotti that is a traditional Hannukah favorite. One bite of these cookies and they will be a holiday favorite in your house whether or not you're Jewish.