Chocolate/Cinnamon Mandelbrot

My family has certain expectations come the High Holidays. There will be honey cake, and mandelbrot. This was my first attempt with this recipe, but I'm thrilled with how light they came out, and I think this may go into regular recipe rotation around here. They are certainly too good to save for holidays.
The original recipe called for almonds-I substituted chocolate chips due to nut allergy. Were I feeling particularly decadent (which I'm not, but whatever) once cooled, you could dip a corner of these into melted chocolate. You can also play with the flavourings (mocha would be really good, or you can use anisette extract for a more biscotti type cookie. Mini chips would have worked better, but I don't normally keep that sort of thing on hand, and I cook with what I have.


From The Art of Jewish Cooking, Jennie Grossinger 1958

You Will Need:

1 1/4 cups sifted AP flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons salad oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon (I have very strong cinnamon on hand, so I halved that amount)
1 cup chocolate chips or almonds

Generously grease two loaf bread pans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. Beat the eggs until thick. Slowly (about a tablespoon at a time) add the sugar beating well after each addition. Beat until very pale yellow. Stir in the oil and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture, then fold in the chips/almonds.

Pour a small bit in each pan to just cover the bottom. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Repeat until you have used up all the batter and cinnamon. I used a knife to smooth the tops and it made a really attractive swirl design that still shows when sliced.

Bake 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove to a rack and cool five minutes in pans. Remove, cool a few more minutes on rack while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

On ungreased baking sheets, slice the loaves into 1/2 inch slices, then cut again horizontally in half. This should give you the classic biscotti shape. Bake five minutes on each side until nicely toasted. You may need a few minutes more or less, so watch them. They do crisp up a bit as they cool. Cool on racks.