Chocolate Orange “Crescents” | Schoko-Orangen Kipferl | German Baking Classics

One of my favourite things to do in the time running up to Christmas is to bake “Plätzchen” as they are known in Germany. The Germans go absolutely nuts for Plätzchen at Christmas and I guarantee you they will be made by every household in the country! 🎄
Plätzchen are basically Christmas biscuits/cookies and come in all shapes, sizes and flavours, not just plain biscuits with icing (although there is nothing wrong with that either!). “Kipferl” are a popular choice, so today I would like to share with you my recipe for chocolate-orange crescents or “Kipferl” (Schoko-Orangen Kipferl in German).

My recipe has recently featured on a “Best Christmas Cookies” Recipe-Round-Up! Check it out here.

These chocolate-orange crescents are one of my favourite Christmas biscuits (Plätzchen) to make! Actually, chocolate-orange is probably my all-time favourite flavour combination in general! I´d have a Terry´s chocolate orange (the dark one!!!) any day of the week! And they are always on special offer at Christmas time!!!

What exactly are “Kipferl”?

Good question!😂 I don´t really know what “Kipferl” means, in fact, I don´t think it actually means anything at all.
All it refers to the curved shape of the biscuit which resembles a semi-circle/a crescent moon.
The flavour of my recipe for chocolate-orange Kipferl is slightly unconventional, the most common flavour is simply vanilla (“Vanillekipferl“). I prefer these chocolate and orange ones though!

They are not very difficult to make, the most time-consuming part is chopping the chocolate and zesting the orange! Then you can very quickly make the dough, leave it to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and then you can start shaping them! Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, dust them with icing sugar and you´re done! Easy peasy lemon (or should I say orange…) squeezy! Speaking of lemons, why not also give this easy yet super delicious lemon drizzle traybake a try?

My recipe for these chocolate-orange crescents uses a sachet of vanilla sugar, which is very easy to buy in Germany. I haven´t really seen it at all in the UK unfortunately.
If you cannot find it, then either add a little bit more normal sugar, add a tsp of vanilla extract instead, or just leave it out completely. It won´t make a huge difference. I have never tried it, but you could also follow a recipe online to make your own vanilla sugar. You could, for example, give this one a try.

This recipe makes about 30 large ones of these German chocolate orange Christmas biscuits, or more if you make them slightly smaller.

More German Christmas Baking Recipes

Make sure to check out some of my other German Christmas biscuit recipes here:

• Vanilla Crescents | “Vanillekipferl”
• Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
• Gingerbread Men
• Hazelnut Shortbread with Dark Chocolate “Haselnussbrot”
• Chocolate Orange Crescents | Schoko Orangen Kipferl
• Coconut Macarons | Kokosmakronen
• Spritzgebäck | German Piped Christmas Biscuits
• German “Baumkuchenspitzen” with Rum
• Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
• Christmas Light Cookies
• Coconut Star Christmas Biscuits
• German Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck | Checkerboard and Pinwheel Biscuits
• German Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) | Traditional German Gingerbread

Chocolate-Orange “Crescents” | Schoko-Orangen Kipferl | German Baking Classics

Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 30):

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 1x10g sachet of vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 60g cornflour
• 200g plain flour
• 1 medium egg
• 100g dark chocolate
• grated zest of 2 oranges

Method:

1. Start by finely chopping the chocolate with a knife and grating the orange zest.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder, sugar and vanilla sugar/extract. Use a spoon to create a well in the middle.
3. Add the egg and grated orange zest to the well. Break the butter into small pieces and scatter around the edge of the bowl, followed by the chocolate.
4. Using the dough hook attachment on an electric whisk, start kneading until the mixture starts to come together. Finish by using your hands to make a smooth dough.
5. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
7. Take the cold dough from the fridge and shape it into a traditional Kipferl shape (see picture above). It´s easiest to roll small portions of the dough into a sausage and then bend it into a semi-circle.
8. Place the Kipferl onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the Kipferl in the pre-heated oven for about 15-17 minutes until golden brown.
9. Allow the Kipferl to cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar.