Vanillekipferl – German Holiday Cookies

 Germany, officially Federal Republic of Germany is located in western and central Europe. It shares its boundaries with Denmark in the north, Poland and Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxemborg in the south west and Netherlands in the north west.  

In Germany, Adventszeit is celebrated on four Sundays preceding Christmas. During these days many types of cookies and sweets are made and shared among friends and families. When I was searching for a cookie recipe, I came across this easy breezy cookie recipe made with almond flour and butter. The recipe was so much like the Mexican Wedding Cakes I have made earlier.  The difference is that for this cookie butter has to be chilled where as in the wedding cakes recipe, you need to beat butter and sugar until fluffy. So this is what differentiates both the cookies as the texture will vary so much due to the butter’s temperature while making the dough. 

The recipe asked to chill the prepared dough for 12 hours. As I only prepared the dough in the morning, I didn’t have enough time to refrigerate for 12 hours as I needed to bake the cookies within 3 pm. Imade the dough at 6am and prepared the cookies at 2pm. I gave the dough 8 hours of resting in the fridge. The dough needs to be handled properly to get the right texture of the cookies. The chilled butter is cut into cubes and rubbed into the flour to form the dough. Overkneading will ruin the texture. So my suggestion is that avoid making it in food processor. Hand mixing is best. The cookies turned out mildly sweet and very delicious. They just crumbled in the mouth. I had blanched almonds so I added sugar and almonds and ground them in the mixer to get the almond meal. If you can get almond meal then add it instead. Dusting with icing sugar gives the necessary sweetness to the cookie, so be generous in dusting.

Recipe Source: On The Table

Makes 24 Cookies

Ingredients:

Flour/ Maida-1 cup

Blanched Almonds-1/2 cup

Sugar-1/6 cup

Vanilla Essence-1/2 tsp

Cold Butter-1/2 cup 

Icing Sugar-1/2 cup

Procedure:

In a mixer jar add almonds and sugar.

Grind to fine powder.

In a large bowl mix together flour, almond and sugar mixture and vanilla essence.

Add cubed chilled butter to the flour.

With the help of your finger tips start rubbing the butter into the flour.

Keep on mixing until the dough comes together.

Divide the dough into two.

Roll each into 1″ log. Dust flour to make it easier. The dough will be crumbly and difficult to shape. Keep on pressing the dough while shaping.

Cover the logs in cling wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours. 

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Remove one log and slice it into 12 equal portions.

Roll each portion into a small log and shape it into a crescent.

Arrange on a greased baking tray.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden in colour.

Transfer to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.

Dust with icing sugar. Serve immedieately or store in air tight jar.

Here are some German recipes from my blog

 

Eggless Black Forest Cake

 

 (click on image for recipe)

Minty Eggless Spaetzle

 

 

Auszogne

Vanillekipferl

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Ingredients

  

Ingredients

• Flour/ Maida-1 cup
• Blanched Almonds-1/2 cup
• Sugar-1/6 cup
• Vanilla Essence-1/2 tsp
• Cold Butter-1/2 cup
• Icing Sugar-1/2 cup

Instructions

 

Procedure

• In a mixer jar add almonds and sugar.
• Grind to fine powder.
• In a large bowl mix together flour, almond and sugar mixture and vanilla essence.
• Add cubed chilled butter to the flour.
• With the help of your finger tips start rubbing the butter into the flour.
• Keep on mixing until the dough comes together.
• Divide the dough into two.
• Roll each into 1" log. Dust flour to make it easier. The dough will be crumbly and difficult to shape. Keep on pressing the dough while shaping.
• Cover the logs in cling wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours.
• Preheat oven to 170°C.
• Remove one log and slice it into 12 equal portions.
• Roll each portion into a small log and shape it into a crescent.
• Arrange on a greased baking tray.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden in colour.
• Transfer to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
• Dust with icing sugar. Serve immedieately or store in air tight jar.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 44

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