Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies)

Buttery, delicate, melt in your mouth little vanilla crescents, a well-known German Christmas biscuit with Austrian origins.

By @cultured.folk

Original recipe source

Cook time: 30 minutes

Servings: 35

Ingredients

• 280 g plain flour
• 100 g almond meal
• 70 g pure icing sugar
• 0 salt
• 200 g unsalted butter, cool and pliable, cubed
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• 60 g pure icing sugar

Instructions

1. Whisk together the plain flour, almond meal, icing sugar, and a small pinch of salt.
2. Rub in the cubed unsalted butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract, then gently bring together into a smooth dough. Do not knead.
4. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it, and refrigerate until firm but still pliable.
5. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan forced and line two trays with baking paper.
6. Divide the dough into four portions and roll each into a log. Cut into discs of your desired biscuit size.
7. Roll each piece on the bench into a little rope, tapering the ends. Gently bend into crescents and arrange on the prepared trays.
8. Bake for approximately 10-13 minutes, until set and only faintly golden at the tips and underneath. Keep the tops quite pale.
9. Leave on the tray for about 5 minutes, then carefully dust or roll in icing sugar while still warm.
10. Cool fully before storing.