Sigrid's German Vanilla Cookies
Vanillekipferl or Vanilla-half-moons
A treat found in many homes at Christmas time.
Ingredients
- 250 g flour
- 80 g icing sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise to expose the black seeds inside
- 1 pinch of salt
- 150 g almonds, grind with food processor
- 150 g cold, unsalted butter
Grease for the cookie sheet or use a silpat.
Oven at 175º C or 375º F, middle oven rack
For the top: Use home made vanilla sugar
Place the flour on a pastry mat and in the center add the icing sugar, egg yolks and vanilla bean seeds. Around the rim of this ingredient circle add the ground almonds and add little pieces of cold butter. Use a dough scraper and fold all ingredients together until it is one big ball. Keep in the fridge for one hour to cool down.
Grease the cookie sheet and sprinkle flour lightly onto it. Roll the dough into
a 5 cm in diameter roll. Cool again for 15 minutes, than cut ½ cm slices with the dough scraper. Shape each slice into a half moon. Place on the cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes at about 175º C or 375º F until gold brown.
Place the warm cookies in a mixture of icing powder and vanilla sugar. All sides should be lightly covered and placed on a serving plate. Store in an airtight container for a few days.
Homemade Vanilla Sugar
Don’t throw away your vanilla beans after they have been slit open and the seeds have been scraped out. Instead, rinse the beans and let them dry. Cut the beans into pieces about 1 inch long and mix them with 2 cups of granulated sugar in a screw-top jar, sealed tightly. After about 2 weeks, the vanilla-infused sugar will be ready to use in any recipe just as you would use any type of regular sugar.