Vanillekipferl

Vanillekipferl are a light and crumbly Austrian biscuit that are popular all year round, but ESPECIALLY at Christmas. Crescent shaped and coated in vanilla sugar they are so very moreish and easy peasy to create, with only a few processes required. You can find vanilla sugar relatively easily these days, but you can also make your own by leaving a vanilla pod to infuse in a jar of caster sugar. Oh and you'll get about 24 biscuits out of this quantity of mixture!

Prep time: 20 Mins
Baking time: 15 Mins
140g Plain Flour
50g Ground Almonds
100g Unsalted Butter (Cold and in tiny cubes)
1 Large Egg Yok
60g Icing Sugar

For sugar coating
20g Icing Sugar
1tbsp Vanilla Sugar

Let's get started! Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line either one large or two medium sized flat baking trays with baking paper. Mix together the flour and almonds, then add the butter and rub together until no lumps remain. Add the egg yolk and icing sugar, start to bring together with a flat bladed knife, then get your hands in there and bring together to a smooth dough.

Break off small balls of the dough (about the size of a small walnut), shape into small tubes, then turn into crescents, pinching the ends to points. Place evenly spaced apart onto your prepared tray(s) then bake in the centre of the oven until golden brown. When you are happy the biscuits are baked remove from the oven and leave on the tray for 15 minutes to firm up slightly.

Combine the icing sugar and vanilla sugar. Toss each biscuit in the sugar and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. If any sugar remains after coating then you can sprinkle each biscuit as they cool. There you go, all done!