I tried to search for a translation but did not succeed which means that you simply have to try these yourself and maybe we can come up with some new names in English. The English equivalent that I could find was ‘sand tarts’ but in my opinion they deserve better, also because sand tarts don’t seem to contain vanilla and for my babies here I use tons of vanilla sugar (make sure you have enough of that stuff in the house). I have to agree though, that the Vanillekipferl you can buy (including the ready-to-use pastry that you get in all the supermarkets) are sandy, crumbly and cannot be compared to these amazing biscuits!
This year I did them in double amount which resulted in three trays of Vanillekipferl. That explains why the last batch turned out to be especially deformed. I am not the most patient person so in the end I just wanted to get rid of the pastry. And to be honest, I was never into shaping nice little crescents. Mine are always too big but eating two big ones makes me feel less guilty then helping myself to 5 small ones. It’s a strategic move.
What you need:
250 gr plain flour
100 gr sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (13 gr)
2 1/2 egg yolks (this is a good reason to double the amounts… try to halve an egg yolk… see what I mean?)
100 gr ground almonds
200 gr of butter
3-4 sachets of vanilla sugar to cover
Mix everything to a smooth dough, try not to eat half of it while doing so. Cover with some plastic foil and refrigerate for 1 hour. Then form little (eh see above) crescents and set on baking tray (covered with baking parchment). Pre-heat oven to 175-190 degrees and bake for 10-12 minutes. They only should be lightly golden, not brown. When they are still warm, roll them in vanilla sugar and let cool. Some people use a mix of icing sugar and vanilla sugar but I prefer plain vanilla sugar for an extra vanilla taste.
Mr. C. prefers them without the sugar coating so he got one tray without. We will visit his family in the South of Italy soon so I have to make sure he looks properly fed.
Recipe Source: Honestly I have no clue. My mum used to do them when we were kids.
Recommended music while cooking this: Lana Del Rey – Video Games
Hi,
How are you?
I love this cookies!!!
how did you shape them?
Hi Elizabeth, I also love these cookies. To shape them, you take a bit of dough and roll it between your hands until you get a lengthy roll that you form into crescents by bending them on both ends. They will grow during baking so try to make the crescents too large. I have to admit it’s not easy to form them nicely. But the taste remains so don’t worry!
Thank you so much,
I made them, they are great!!
Glad they turned out well! You will see that in one or two days they get even better.