Vanilla Kipferl
(Almond Crecents)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, creamed
until soft
1 egg yolk
2 ½ cup flour
1/2 lb. almonds, blanched and chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Sugar for dusting the cookies- 1 cup

Make your own with ground vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
or 1 cup superfine baking sugar
1 teaspoon ground vanilla

Make your own vanilla sugar with vanilla beans

 

1. Gather your ingredients and measure them out. It is nice to soften the butter by leaving it at room temperature for an hour.
Not shown here is vanilla sugar that we will be using to dust the Kipferl or Crecents with.

2.Cream the butter Then beat powdered sugar gradually into butter until light and creamy.

3. Add and beat in the egg yolk. You may be asking can I add the whole egg, why just the yolk? People add just the yolk for more tenderness. The whites will give it more structure. If I am mailing these cookies I will use the whole egg.

4. Stir in the flour and add the chopped almonds, also the vanilla extract.
I chill the dough for an hour or even overnight.

Making the Cookies:

5. If the cookie dough feels too dry to make your crecents then add a bit of butter to moisten. If it is too crumbly add an egg white too it.

4. Chill the dough till it is stiff enough to roll, then roll it to ¼ inch thickness.

5 .Roll the cookies into crecent shapes as shown. I ofen make a very slight curve because I am shipping them. The traditional ones I see in Austria or Germany are a more pronounced curve. Pinch the ends to get a nice point.

(If you don't have a crescent shaped cookie cutter, you might use a round one and cut the circles in half. These would then be “Half-Moon” cookies.)

6. Bake on a greased tin in a moderate oven, 375 degrees for 15 - 20 min. They may then be dipped or rolled in sugar while still warm.

To make vanilla sugar for dusting use either powdered sugar or superfine baking sugar or blend half and half for an interesting texture.
Add the ground vanilla and blend

Make your own vanilla sugar with vanilla beans