Vanillekipferl Vanilla Crescent Cookies

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies)

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies)

I found this cookie recipe about a year ago on Pinterest after the holidays and added them to my list of cookies to bake this year. Vanillekipferl is a popular cookie from Vienna, Austria enjoyed during the Christmas holiday. The cookies are truly amazing in taste and texture. They are buttery and loaded with vanilla flavor. The cookies smell so good and when they are baking, the vanilla permeates the kitchen in a most delightful way. The blog Li'l Vienna explains "the expression Kipfe(r)l refers to anything crescent-shaped, but only in terms of pastry and baking."  This recipe takes a little work, since you make your own almond meal and you have to shape each piece of dough into a crescent shape, but it is well worth the effort. You dip each cookie into a vanilla sugar mixture while it is warm so it sticks on the cookie. If you cannot find vanilla sugar, I provide a recipe to make it yourself. This recipe adapted from Li'l Vienna. See below.

Yield: 3 1/2 Dozen Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups King Arthur All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

2/3 cup Vanilla Sugar

1 1/3 cup Ground Almonds (I used blanched slivered Almonds)

14 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into cubes

2 XL Egg Yolks

2 tablespoons Whole Milk

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Vanillekipferl close-up

Sugar Mixture
6 tablespoons Confectioners'/Powdered Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Sugar

Directions
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Take powdered sugar and combine with vanilla sugar; set aside. You will use this after you bake the cookies and while they are warm, you dip them into this sugar mixture to coat. The cookies have to be warm for the sugars to stick.

Place almonds in coffee grinder and grind until the almonds have reached a finely ground texture.

In a bowl, combine flour and salt and set aside in fridge to keep cool until ready to use.

Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes and set aside in fridge to keep cold until ready to use.

Almonds in grinder and almond meal

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk and vanilla extract.

Add butter to flour mixture and with a pastry cutter (or your hands) work it until you reach small crumbs.

Add in vanilla sugar and ground almonds and mix until incorporated.

Add to egg mixture and combine until you form dough.

Knead with your hands for about 30 seconds.

Cut dough into quarters and cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Using one quarter of the dough at a time, divide it into small pieces and roll with your hands into 1/2 inch thick pieces and form a crescent shape. Pinch the edges slightly.

Butter in cubes, how dough should look when reaches crumbly texture and Vanilla Sugar I used

While you are forming the crescent shapes, heat oven to 350 degrees.

Place on baking sheets and freeze for 5 minutes.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until edges are slightly golden.

Wait 2 minutes and then dip the top side into the vanilla sugar mixture. The sugar mixture will stick on the warm cookies.

Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Homemade Vanilla Sugar:
1 cup Granulated Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean

Place sugar in the bowl of a food processor.

Scrape vanilla bean using the back of a knife and add to bowl, and pulse until incorporated.

Make 1 day ahead or more, and store in an airtight container until you need it.

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies) recipe adapted from Li'l Vienna:
http://www.lilvienna.com/austrian-vanilla-crescents-vanillekipferl/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys