Christmas Cookies: Vanillekipferl

When it comes to Advent and Christmas baking, there is a holy trinity of seasonal cookies that always get baked in Germany, at least in my circles: Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars), Butterkekse (butter cookies), and Vanillekipferl (vanilla crescents). I shared my recipes for Zimtsterne and Butterkekse with you last year, so this time it’s time to introduce you to Vanillekipferl and I promise you, once you have made and tasted these, you won’t look back. We usually make two to three batches of these each Christmas!

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Some credit for my Vanillekipferl has to go to my mum, as it is her recipe that forms the basis of them, though I have played around with the quantities and altered it a little, e.g. substituting castor sugar for icing sugar. Also, since I make these with gluten free flour, they do lose their shape a little, but if you use regular flour they will look more crescent like. But without further ado, here is the recipe for the tastiest cookies this side of Christmas!

Ingredients

  • 200g gluten free flour (e.g. Dove’s Farm plain white GF flour, or Schär’s GF flour Mix for Kekse & Kuchen)
  • 80g icing sugar
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar (e.g. Dr Oetker) or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 80g ground almonds
  • 150g soft butter

Plus extra icing sugar for dusting.

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Directions

  • Quickly mix all the ingredients to a smooth dough with your hands (in a mixing bowl).
  • Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
  • Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (160°C for a fan oven).
  • Tear off little pieces of the dough and form them into crescents.
  • Place the crescents on a baking tin lined with grease proof paper and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.
  • Leave the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes – they will fall apart into a pile of crumbs if you try and move them when they’re straight out the oven!
  • Whilst the cookies are still a bit warm, dust them with icing sugar.
  • Store in an airtight tin and try not to eat them all at once :-)

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