Were you a nerd in high school?

Do you secretly long to be loved, adored and admired by all?

Of course you do and here’s a recipe that will bring the magic of popularity onto your head. In all justice there really should be a PayPal box here so that you can send me your money in an entirely fair, even cheap exchange for this great secret of life, but lucky you— dear reader, you get to have this for free!

It’s my mandelbroit. an old country favorite brought over from Russia or Lithuania in steerage, herded through Ellis Island and passed on through the centuries—and for good reason. This recipe is love . When I recently made a batch for a friend’s son’s bar mitzvah neighbors besieged me on the street begging for the recipe pumping up my chronically deflated ego to the size of the Goodyear blimp.

My love affair with Mandelbroidt dates back to one sultry Friday afternoon—the approximate time when the Yetzer horo—or the drive to no good, is at its peak. On that particular Friday I was attempting the impossible—not an unusual feat for a mother of many. This time the challenge was to bake a conventional, child pleasing cookie without sabotaging a family member’s brand new diet.

Since I wasn’t going to take out the splenda and applesauce my goal on was simply damage control, to find the least calorie intensive but normal cookie and bake it.

After thumbing through my not inconsiderable library of cookbooks I was about ready to quit , but as the words “forget it” were forming on my lips, the Mandel Sticks recipe (on which my now famous Mandelbroit recipe is based) . popped out at me from the waterlogged pages of “the Kosher Palette.” . Let’s just say that it was a mystical moment.

By the time I lit candles there wasn’t a Mandelbroit left in the house—no kidding and I’d made a double recipe.

So here it is. Laminate this page. This is a keeper!!!. Great for your own family, great for Shalach mones, kiddushes or just to have alongside a coffee. If you like things foreign you can call it biscotti, but it’s really Mandelbroit. The main thing is to enjoy

½ cup vegetable oil.

One cup sugar

2 large eggs

I t vanilla extract

2 cups flour (I like to use Rubinfeld 70 per cent whole wheat)

1 t baking soda

¼ t salt

½ cup slivered almonds

½ cup raisins or dried cranberries or chocolate chips

One t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F)

This is an extremely low tech recipe. You don’t need a mixer. You don’t even need a fork,

Dig your hands in and combine everything together like a toddler making a mud pie. Or better yet, give this job to one of your kids—not a toddler though unless you want your kitchen plus child splattered with sticky mandelbroit batter.

Once the batter is all mixed together shape it into two logs. ( Dear reader, take a moment to contemplate this wonderful fact—no spooning the batter out one cookie at time—isn’t that wonderful?)

. Place them on baking trays coated with baking paper.

Bake 30-40 minutes

Remove from oven. Cool slightly (10 minutes max or you’ll have mandel rocks) and slice with a sharp knife. If you like your sticks harder you can return to turned off oven after slicing. By the way, this freezes beautifully. END