Vanillekipferl - Vanilla Crescent Cookies

Vanillekipferl are vanilla crescent cookies filled with nuts and dusted in a generous coating of vanilla sugar. These delicate cookies are perfect for holiday cookie trays and are a popular European treat.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 12

Resting Time 1

Total Time 1 27

Servings cookies

Author Heather

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter cold
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour *measured properly
1 cup (96 g) ground almonds
½ cup (57 g) confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar *
⅛ teaspoon salt

Dusting sugar

⅓ cup (38 g) confectioner's sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla sugar *

Instructions

Cookies

Slice cold butter into cubes. In a food processor, add flour and cubed butter. Pulse until butter is the size of small peas. Alternately, use a fork or pastry blender to incorporate butter into flour.
Add the remaining ingredients to your flour mixture - ground almonds, confectioner's sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt. Mix until combined. Dough should be crumbly, but hold together when pinched between two fingers. If you're having trouble getting your dough to come together, add up to a tablespoon of water and mix until a dough forms.
Toss dough out onto wax paper or parchment. Form into a disc, wrap, and refrigerate for one hour (or up to 24 hours).
Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop dough using a medium (1.5 tablespoon) cookie scoop. Roll the ball of dough between your hands to make a log, lay 2 inches apart onto your baking sheet, then gently turn the ends into a crescent shape. Work quickly and handle the dough as little as possible to avoid warming it with your hands.
Bake for about 12-14 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and tops look set.

Dusting sugar

Meanwhile, combine confectioner's sugar and vanilla sugar in a small bowl.
Immediately upon removing cookies from the oven, top each cookie generously with prepared dusting sugar.
Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before storing.

Notes

* How to measure flour properly: Use a kitchen scale to measure flour for accurate results every time. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
Buying vanilla sugar: If you do not have vanilla sugar on hand, it can be purchased on Amazon.
Making vanilla sugar: In a food processor, combine ¼ cup of granulated sugar with ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. Spread it out to dry. Once dried, the sugar will be clumpy. Transfer back to the food processor and pulse until you have a sugar consistency again.
One packet of vanillezucker/vanillinzucker contains about 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla sugar. To make 24 cookies with this recipe, you will need 3 packets of vanilla sugar, or 4.5 teaspoons.
Nuts: Almonds can be substituted with walnuts or hazelnuts if desired.
More tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!

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