Christmas is just a week away! If you haven’t made the most of the pre-Christmas period yet, you should use the next few days to check out Munich’s most beautiful Christmas markets and get the last presents. And if you don’t have any baked goods for the festive season yet, don’t worry. Because with the right recipes, the most delicious specialties can be made in no time at all: try gingerbread or Portuguese pastéis de nata. A classic that no German Christmas should be without, however, is vanilla crescents: Vanilla crescents.
Ingredients for approx. 40 vanilla crescents
For the dough
- 280 g flour (type 405)
- 100 g ground almonds
- 70 g sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 210 g cold butter
- 1 egg yolk
For the vanilla sugar coating
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 2 sachets of vanilla sugar (or the sugar from 2 vanilla pods)
Preparation
1. prepare the dough
First, put the flour, almonds, sugar and salt in a large bowl and mix everything together. Add the butter and egg yolk before kneading everything into a smooth dough. Important: Do not knead for too long so that the dough remains crumbly and the butter does not get too warm.
Then shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour (preferably 2 hours).
2. shape the croissants
Now it’s time for the more exciting step: shaping the croissants! Preheat the oven to 175 °C top/bottom heat and line a baking tray with baking paper. Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into four equal parts. Work with one part at a time, leaving the rest to chill.
Roll the dough in portions into thin strands (approx. 1.5 cm in diameter) and cut off pieces approx. 1.5 cm thick from the strands. Shape these pieces with your fingertips into small croissants (Kipferln) and place them on the prepared baking tray. Make sure that the ends are pointier than the middle.
3. bake and enjoy
Bake the vanilla crescents in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes. Take care when baking: The crescents should remain light in color and only slightly brown around the edges.
Once they are ready, there is only one step left before you can taste them: Sugar! Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar and carefully roll the croissants in the vanilla-sugar mixture. Be careful not to break the still-hot vanilla crescents.
Tip for extra vanilla flavor: Instead of using ready-made vanilla sugar, use sugar that you have previously mixed with the seeds of real vanilla pods. This makes the taste particularly intense. Enjoy the Christmas season!