Friday, November 16, 2007

Kipferl

Kipferl is an almond vanilla cookie hailing from Germany. From what I've managed to find out, it is a Christmas cookie shaped like a crescent that is eaten with tea and jam but I think you could eat these little delicacies anytime morning, noon and night.

The dough is similar to a sugar cookie with the addition of ground almonds. After a brief chilling period, they're shaped and baked. I think some of my crescents look like "U"s and "C"s. It took me some time to get them all looking similar. They do take a little extra effort and my dough got really hard so I had to soften it up to keep from crumbling. Once they come out of the oven , they're dusted with more sugar and ready to be enjoyed.

Kipferl has a distinct and pronounced vanilla flavour while the almonds add a gentle undertone. They browned considerably after 12 minutes so watch them closely. The cookie texture is like a sugar cookie but the ground almonds add a bit of texture. Overall, I really liked making and eating the Kipferl. They taste really fabulous the next day or even the day after after the flavours have had a chance to mingle. Again, they would make an interesting and tasty addition to any cookie tray.

Recipe: Kipferl

4 comments:

Aimée said...

I'll have to try these. Every December I do a holiday cookie swap to help get more variety. These would be very popular because they are so pretty!

Michelle said...

Your cookies look great!!

I make a cookie very similar to these but without the egg and extract. We coat the cookie in a sugar/vanilla sugar mixture when they come out of the oven.
They are my favortie cookie of all time!

Anonymous said...

Make these cookies with hazelnuts and you will never use almonds again!
1 cup unsalted butter; 2/3 cup vanilla sugar; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour;1 cup toasted,ground hazelnuts. Shape; bake 350 for l8 min. Cool briefly & roll in vanilla 10X sugar. Traditionally they are called VIENNESE CRESCENTS. Best of all cookies! elsie

MumsTheName said...

my mom makes these every Christmas...she puts a bit of powdered sugar on top...they are great.