Vanillekipferl

These tender Vanillekipferl (Austrian vanilla crescent cookies) are a traditional Christmas cookie that have an amazing melt in the mouth texture. The vanilla flavoured crescent shaped cookies are baked until lightly golden and then dusted in icing sugar/ confectioners sugar to create a simple vanilla biscuit so good that it’s hard to stop at just the one!

Their melt in the mouth texture make them similar to a classic Scottish shortbread, but the addition of vanilla and ground almonds / almond flour creates biscuits with a distinctive sweet vanilla taste and crunchy but light texture.

Jump to:

• Why we love this recipe
• Ingredients notes and substitutions
• How to make this recipe
• FAQ
• My recipe tips
• Storage/ make ahead
• Variations
• More Christmas cookie recipes
• Vanillekipferl

Why we love this recipe

• These classic Austrian  Christmas cookies are popular throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. They are a wonderful taste of Christmas and make a delicious edible gift too.
• Although traditionally Austrian, I often refer to them as German vanilla crescent cookies as when we lived in Munich they were a favourite Christmas cookie bought into my husbands office together with zimtsterne and he would bring some home for me to taste.
• Many recipes don’t use an egg, however I have found that adding an egg helps bind the dough together to make it easier to work with. It is still a delicate dough even with the egg!
• Traditional vanillekipferl cookies are dusted in vanilla sugar which can be hard to buy outside of Austria / Germany, so I have used granulated / white sugar together with icing sugar / confectioners sugar. If you can find vanilla sugar, use this to dust the cookies with for a more intense vanilla flavour – yum!

Ingredients notes and substitutions

• Butter – unsalted butter. This recipe wouldn’t work with margarine as you need that buttery taste.
• Flour – plain flour or all purpose flour.
• Almond Flour – blanched almond meal or ground almonds. If you have ground hazelnuts, feel free to swap them in or use a combination of both hazelnut and almond flours.
• Vanilla – use a good quality vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, to give your Christmas cookies the best flavour.
• Sugar – granulated sugar / white sugar, for the crescent cookie dough and to sprinkle the warm cookies with when they come out of the oven.
• Icing sugar – confectioners sugar. Use pure icing sugar rather than soft icing sugar.

How to make this recipe

Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for the full, detailed recipe.

1. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Mix the flour with the ground almonds / almond flour, sugar, softened butter, vanilla paste / extract and egg.
3. Knead to form a dough.
4. Roll into a ball, wrap with clingfilm and place in the fridge.
5. Preheat the oven to 180˚C fan / 356˚F.
6. Dust your work surface or a chopping board with a little flour and divide the dough into quarters.
7. Take one quarter and roll out in to a sausage shape approx. 20-25 cm (8-9 inches) long with a diameter of 1.5 cm (0.6 inch). Cut this into quarters.
8. Form each piece in to a crescent shape, lightly pinching each end.
9. Place the crescents on to the lined baking tray and repeat with the rest of the dough.
10. Place the crescents in to the preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tips are just beginning to turn brown.
11. Mix the icing sugar / confectioners sugar and white sugar together then sprinkle all over the warm cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.
12. Leave the cookies on the tray for a couple of minutes, then move to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

FAQ

My recipe tips

• The mixture can look very dry and crumbly when you first start to mix it, but don’t worry it will come together as you continue to mix it.
• Handle the dough as lightly as you can for the lightest and tender texture.
• Try to make the crescents the same size so they bake evenly.
• Sprinkle with icing sugar whilst hot from the oven, this helps it stick.
• Try to make them the same size so they bake evenly.
• They are ready when the tips of the crescents are golden brown – the rest of the cookie should still be pretty pale. If they are over baked you lose that classic vanilla taste and the bitter slightly burnt taste can overpower their delicate vanilla flavour. Over baking them can also make them hard rather than tender.

Storage/ make ahead

These baked vanilla crescents will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

If you want to make the dough ahead, you can keep it in the fridge for 1-2 days, wrapped well. Then shape and bake as per the recipe.

Variations

• Different nut flours – you can use hazelnut flour or even finely ground walnuts instead of the almond flour / ground almonds, or use half and half.
• Chocolate – it’s not traditional to dip the ends in melted chocolate like Nussecken, but it is delicious!

More Christmas cookie recipes