Pistachio Almond Apricot Cranberry Cookie Thins

I am crazy about Almondina cookies. When I first tasted these cookies (ten years ago?), I became obsessed. I actually e-mailed the company to find out about future distribution.

And, of course, I needed to know how to make them myself. The grandma behind these cookies called them petit gateau sec. But I had no luck finding any recipe online with that name.

Then I figured out that they must be some kind of mandelbread (or mandelbrodt or mandelbrot). After endless searching, I found a recipe at recipecottage for mandelbread that had the same ingredients as the Almondina cookies: egg whites, sugar, almond, flour. Bingo! The recipe was missing raisins, but that was easy to remedy.

I converted the metric measurements and made the recipe, adding in raisins. Wow! Just like the Almondina cookies! I was so thrilled.

Since my initial discovery, I read in Alford and Duguid’s Home Baking (p. 387) that these cookies are known in Australia as Australian Mandelbread Mandel-Melbas. The Alford/Duguid recipe called for whole eggs, but provided fairly similar results.

Then, I found a another all egg white recipe similar to the recipecottage recipe on Jewish Food-List.com, also called Australian Mandelbread. And there is another recipe on the same site, almost identical, called Melba Mandelbread (from Norene Gilletz’s Healthy Helpings). Both the recipe cottage recipe and the Jewish Food-List recipe for Australian Mandelbread call for extra narrow loaf pans which help create the right shape. The recipe for Melba Mandelbread calls for a regular 9″x5″ loaf pan. (And here is version of melba-style mandelbread that calls for mini loaf pans!)

While the recipecottage mandelbread is toasted at 350 degrees, and the Alford/Dugiud melba-mandels are toasted at 300 degrees, the Jewish Food-List mandelbread is dried out at 200 degrees. I have found that 35o degrees get the cookies brown like the Almondina cookies, but you need to watch like a hawk because the cookies can brown unevenly at that temperature, especially if the cookies are not sliced evenly (very, very tricky). At 300 degrees, you still need to be very watchful. A 200 degree oven dries out the cookies without browning them, which is slightly different taste experience.

Anyway, I have made this recipe many times, but have never gotten around to making flavor variations.

Until I saw a stunning flavor variation at BakingObsession.com. Vera says her “toasts” come from Australia, and the base recipe is same as the recipecottage and Jewish Food-List recipes. The twist is that Vera adds cubes of apricots, apricot kernals, and pistachios. Plus, she adds the haunting flavor of cardomom and the zing of orange and lemon zest.

I made these cookies, substituting almonds for the apricot kernals and adding in dried cranberries.

Wow. Were these ever good. I was a little nervous about the cardomom, but it was excellent. A very sophisticated, very pretty cookie.

Vera recommends baking the loaf in a 8″x4″ pan, but, if you increased the ingredients by 50 percent, you could bake a longer loaf in a pullman loaf pan. This is the type of pan I like to use when I make this type of cookie.

Pistachio Almond Apricot Craisin Mandelbread Thins
adapted from Baking Obsession

Sift together in a small bowl and set aside [I just stirred, no sifting. It was fine]:
1 cup all-purpose flour [note: about 4.25 ounces]
½ tsp ground cardamom

Beat egg whites until frothy on medium speed, add the salt, increase the speed to medium high and then gradually add the sugar, beating until the whites are stiff and glossy:
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• ¼ tsp salt [oops, I forgot to add this. Just as well, the pistachios were salted and the whites beat up fine anyway.]
• ½ cup fine granulated sugar (note: about 3.75 ounces)

In three additions, gently fold in the flour mixture. The fold in:
grated  zest of ½ orange [I did the whole orange, well mostly]
grated zest of ½ lemon [I added the rind of most of the lemon]
1/2 cup pistachios (2 ounces)
½ cup whole almonds (2.25 ounces)
½ cup finely chopped dry apricots, tossed with 1/2 tsp. flour to keep pieces from sticking together (about 4 ounces)

Spread the batter gently in a loaf pan (8″x4″) lined with parchment (ungreased!). I spread half the batter, sprinkled over some dried cranberries, then spread over the rest of the batter.

Bake the loaf in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. The top of the cake will be lightly golden and a cake tester will come out clean.  Cool in the pan  for 10 minutes, unmold, and then cool completely. Wrap and freeze or refrigerate overnight. This is pretty critical to the final texture and ease of slicing.

Cut the chilled loaf into 1/8-inch” slices. Place the slices on two parchment-lined baking sheets.

Dry out the slices at 200 degrees for 40-60 minutes. You are looking for crispness, not browning. To facilitate even drying out, flip the slices over through half of the baking time. You can let the slices cool in the turn-off the oven.

For a Fall/Winter flavor (Pumpkin Spice), go here.

Tags: almondina, mandelbread, mandelbrod, mandelbrodt