Vanilla Almond Half-Moons or Vanillekipferl, Austrian Cookies

Vanilla Almond Half-Moons or Vanillekipferl, Austrian Cookies

You must make them! They are magical.
These melt-in-your mouth buttery cookies are simple to make and delicious for any occasion. Great for a mid-afternoon get-together or a light, after-dinner dessert.
It’s basically a crescent-shaped vanilla almond biscuit, dusted with lots and lots of vanilla icing sugar.
They are in fact made the same way you’d make a shortbread or shortcrust pastry. All the ingredients are mixed together, the dough formed into logs, wrapped in clingfilm and chilled in the fridge for an hour or so. Once the dough has firmed up, you cut slices off, and mould them into crescents. Once they’re baked, dust them with a generous helping of vanilla icing sugar so that they get their snow-dusted look.



Servings: About 30
Prep Time: 10 minutes, plus one hour’s chilling
Cook Time: 10-15 Min

Ingredients:

• 300g flour
• 150g ground almonds
• 175g butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 100g sugar
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• confectioners' sugar and vanilla sugar for rolling and dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all the ingredients to a short-crust dough, wrap and refrigerate until firm for one hour. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Pinch off tablespoons of dough and roll into short ropes. Bend into crescent moon shapes on baking sheets, leaving about two inches between cookies.



Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Mix confectioners' sugar and vanilla sugar together, then toss the hot cookies in the mix. Carefully roll warm cookies in the vanilla sugar.
You can store the cookies in a sealed tin for several days.

Happy New Year, my dear readers!