Vanillekipferl (Almond Crescent Cookies)
Photo: sunnyday72, CC BY-SA 3.0
Vanillekipferl are small almond crescent cookies baked across Austria and Germany at Christmas. The dough is rubbed together from cold butter, flour and ground almonds, which gives a crumbly, tender bite rather than a crisp snap. The key step is dipping them in vanilla sugar while still hot, so the coating sticks and perfumes each cookie. Shaping them by hand means no two crescents match.
Instructions
Sift the flour into a large bowl, then cut the cold butter into slices and work it into the flour with your fingertips.
Add the 100 g of icing sugar, the salt, the single packet of vanilla sugar, the ground almonds and the egg. Rinse your hands in cold water so the butter stays firm, then knead everything together on a pastry board until you have a smooth dough. Let it rest for half an hour.
Grease a baking tray or line it with baking paper, and preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
Shape the dough into a cylinder about 5 cm across and cut it into slices 0.5 cm thick. Roll each slice between your flat palms into a short sausage that tapers slightly at the ends.
Bend each piece into a crescent on the tray. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown.
Mix the 60 g of icing sugar with the 2 packets of vanilla sugar. While the cookies are still hot, dip each one in the mixture to coat it.
Sample a warm one if you like. Leave the rest out overnight, then keep them in an airtight tin.
Make it personal.
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