These vanilla “crescents”, or “Vanillekipferl”, are the classic version of the chocolate orange “crescents” recipe I posted a few days ago.
Another one of my German baking classics, these soft, crumbly, vanilla flavoured biscuits are perfect for the Christmas period. They are one of the most common types of “Plätzchen” (German Christmas biscuits) you can find and are an absolute classic.
This vanilla crescent recipe is based on a recipe from a book I read when I was younger. It was written by the best-selling German author Kerstin Gier (she has written quite a few really good books for teens/adolescents) and was called “Silber” (“German” for silver). In the book, the protagonist always made these “Vanillekipferl” for her little sister, when she was sad and needed cheering up.
How to make Vanilla Crescents / Vanillekipferl:
The ground almonds in these biscuits add to its crumbly texture and adding the seeds from a vanilla pod or some vanilla bean paste gives them a really amazing vanilla flavour. Vanilla pods can be quite expensive, and I find it works out cheaper, in the long run, to invest in a pot of vanilla bean paste (~£4-5). This is the one I use and I can really recommend it.
Just like the chocolate orange “crescents”, these vanilla crescents are really easy to make. Simply combine all the ingredients to form a dough, chill in the fridge for an hour, shape and bake! And you are good to go!
Again, like many other German baking recipes, this recipe calls for the use of a sachet of vanilla sugar. Vanilla sugar is very easy to buy in Germany, but I haven´t really seen it at all in the UK. If you cannot find it, just leave it out and use only icing sugar to dust the biscuits. 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.
For more festive baking ideas, why not try my Festive Chocolate Pavlova with Bailey´s Irish Cream, a traditional German Christmas Stollen, these delicious Chocolate Orange Crescents, Gingerbread Men or an Easy Iced Biscuit recipe! There are some tips on how to create feathered icing in that post, too, so definitely worth checking out!🎄
Vanilla “Crescents” | Vanillekipferl | German Baking Classics
Recipe
Ingredients (makes ~40 small vanilla “crescents”):
FOR THE BISCUITS:
- 200g butter, softened
- 100g caster sugar
- seeds of 1 vanilla pod OR 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 100g ground almonds
- 250g plain flour
TO DECORATE:
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 50g icing sugar
Method:
- Cream together the butter and the sugar, either with an electric whisk, wooden spoon, or you could simply use your hands.
- If using a vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and add the remaining biscuit ingredients to the mixing bowl. Work with your hands until the mixture comes together in a ball.
- Wrap the dough in some clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour.
- After an hour, preheat the oven to 190°C. Line your baking trays with baking paper.
- Next, you can shape your “Vanillekipferl”. Take small amounts of the dough, roll it into a sausage on a surface or between your hands and then shape it into a crescent/semi-circle shape (see pictures).
- Bake the vanilla crests in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix the icing sugar and vanilla sugar (if you have it) in a small bowl.
- When baked, remove the biscuits from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes to firm up a little.
- Then carefully pick up the biscuits (they are fragile) and toss them in the sugar mix until well coated. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
