Vanillegipfeli

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Vanillegipfeli, sometimes spelt Vanillekipferl, are traditional, delicate, melt in the mouth, buttery, vanilla, crescent shaped cookies from Austria. I first fell in love with them when I lived there in the early 1990s and have subsequently eaten them often in Switzerland and Germany as well.

Where is the recipe I use from?

However, I had never made them until recently! I came across a wonderful Swiss website called Helvetic Kitchen. Set up by Andie, a Swiss-Canadian living in Switzerland, she shares a host of delicious Swiss and alpine recipes. This is her recipe, and unusually for me, I have made no changes: it is perfect as it is! See here for Andie’s Vanillegipfeli post. You should take a look at her site, it is a real gem.

What is the history behind Vanillegipfeli?

Hailing from Austria, the crescent shape is said to be a reflection of the the crescent shape on the Turkish flag. When Austria conquered Turkey during the Austro-Turkish War (1778-1791) they created many crescent shaped pastries to celebrate their victory. The most famous of which is probably the croissant. Yes, it is an Austrian not French creation!

I digress! These cookies are now made throughout Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Typically made over the Christmas period, they can be enjoyed, and can certainly be bought, in Viennese bakeries throughout the year. I can also guarantee that you will find a regular supply in my house, whether I am in London or Switzerland. They are really that good!

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Besides, I have yet to perfect that wonderful crescent shape – practice makes perfect after all! The cookie dough, which is a shortbread style cookie with ground nuts, has a very high butter content. This makes it difficult to work with, but the end result is an extremely tender, delicious, buttery cookie. The shape of my Vanillegipfeli may not be perfect, but that does not affect their wonderful taste and texture and the aroma in the house as they cook!

Andie’s Top Tips:

Andie lists a number of tips to ensure you achieve the correct texture:

• most importantly, do not over-work the dough.
• use superfine sugar. In the UK we call this caster sugar.
• if you can’t find vanilla sugar to use in the sugar coating, replace it with cinnamon powder
• don’t worry if the shape is not perfect, they will still taste fabulous.

How to make Vanillegipfeli

Collect all your ingredients together:

For the cookies –

• unsalted butter, at room temperature
• caster/superfine sugar
• fine salt
• vanilla extract or paste
• ground almonds (or you can use ground hazelnuts or walnuts)
• plain/all-purpose flour

For the sugar coating:

• caster/superfine sugar
• icing/powdered sugar
• vanilla sugar or cinnamon powder

First make and bake the Vanillegipfeli:

1. Beat the butter to ensure it is soft. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla paste or extract and beat again, with an electric whisk, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2. Add the flour and the ground almonds. Roughly stir in with a spoon or spatula and then beat on a slow speed with your electric whisk until just mixed in.
3. Tip out onto a large piece of cling film and push the dough together with your hands, in a rough cylindrical shape.
4. Wrap tightly in cling film, smoothing out the shape as you do so.
5. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.
6. When you are ready to shape the cookies, take out of the fridge, unwrap and slice the cookie dough into 12 equal slices.
7. Take a slice and roll it into a sausage shape around 1cm/½in thick.
8. Now carefully create a crescent shape. Push the dough back together gently if it falls apart.
9. Place on a lightly greased baking tray and refrigerate for a further 30 minutes. These cookies should not spread much but make sure there is a little space between them.
10. Bake in the centre of the oven for 11 minutes or until starting to very lightly brown.

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Next cover them in sugar:

1. Leave the cookies on the baking tray for approximately 5 minutes to both harden a little and ensure they are cool enough to handle. If you try to move them too quickly they will fall apart.
2. Mix the caster, icing and vanilla sugars together thoroughly in a bowl. dredge each cookie in the sugar mix ensuring they are covered in the sugar.
3. Leave to finish cooling on a baking tray.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.