Vanillekipferl - Almond Vanilla Crescents

I've been trying out some new cookie recipes (many of them have been a total failure) this autumn, but I always and regularly go back to my tried ones like Orange Blossom cookies, or Melting Moments.
But my daughters' favourite ones are these: one, because they are simple (no jam, no large pieces of nuts or chocolate inside), and because they are sprinkled with sugar (yeah, they first lick all the sugar) or covered with the chocolate glaze (the little one has the cutest chocolate moustache). Whatever the reason, I've been baking these weekly for them, and I even have to hide them because my daughter would eat them all day long if I didn't.
They stay nice crunchy for days, I love to dip them in a glass of milk, or have a dozen in the morning with my coffee, or in the afternoon with a nice warm cup of tea. Or I just grab one every time I enter the kitchen (I guess I need to hide them from myself as well).
You could substitute the almonds for hazelnuts or coconut flakes if you like. But almonds are more neutral  and really leave more space for that pleasant vanilla flavour that I like in my cookies.
Have you been baking any cookies lately? What's your favourite recipe?



Vanilla Almond Kipferl

* 150 g all-purpose flour
* 50 g corn starch
* 100 g powdered sugar
* 50 g ground almonds
* a pinch of salt
* 100 g butter (softened)
* 2 egg yolks
* 1 vanilla bean

Sift together the flour, the corn starch, the salt, the sugar and the scraped vanilla seeds  Mix with the almond meal and add the butter as well. Rub the dry ingredients with butter to get coarse crumbs.

Add the yolks and knead just enough to bring all ingredients together.
(If you prefer, you can do all this in your food processor.)
Form a ball, wrap it with a piece of plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for 1 hour (not longer, or it will get too hard to work with).
Take the dough out of the fridge, divide it into 10 g pieces.
Form little rolls out of each piece of dough, about 1 cm thick and 4 cm long.
Form little crescents and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 10 minutes, just until the edges start to brown.
Let them cool and then either dust them with powdered sugar or drizzle with chocolate glaze.

Kipferli alla vaniglia e mandorle

* 150 g di farina "00"
* 50 g di amido di mais 
* 50 g di farina di mandorle
* 100 g di zucchero a velo 
* un pizzico di sale
* 100 g di burro
* 2 tuorli d'uovo
* 1 bacello di vaniglia

Setacciate insieme la farina, l'amido, lo zucchero a velo, sale e la vaniglia.
Unite anche la farina di mandorle tritate e il burro morbido. Strofinate con le mani fino a ottenere delle briciole grossolane. Unite i due tuorli e impastate velocemente. Dovreste ottenere l'impasto liscio ed elastico. Formate una palla, avvolgetela con un pezzo di pellicola trasparente e lasciate riposare in frigo per 1 ora.
Togliete la pasta dal frigo e dividetela in pezzettini da 10 g.  Con ogni pezzettino formate un rotolo dello spessore di 1 cm e lungo 4 cm.
 Formate i biscottini, adagiateli su una placca da forno foderata con la carta da forno e cuoceteli nel forno preriscaldato a 180°C per circa 10 minuti (finché i bordi cominciano leggermente a dorare). Lasciateli raffreddare e poi decorate con la glassa al cioccolato oppure lo zucchero a velo.





Vanilin kiflice s bademima

* 150 g brašna
* 50 g škrobnog brašna
* 50 g mljevenih badema
* malo soli
* 100 g šećera u prahu
* 1 mahuna vanilije
* 100 g maslaca
* 2 žumanjka

Prosijte skupa obje vrste brašna, šećer u prahu, vaniliju i sol, umiješajte i mljevene bademe.
Dodajte maslac (neka stoji oko pola sata izvan hladnjaka), pa izmiješajte da dobijete krupnije mrvice.
Dodajte žumanjke i mijesite tek toliko da se sve poveže.
Ostavite 1 sat u hladnjaku.
Podijelite tijesto na komadiće od 10 g i oblikujte rolnice debljine 1 cm i duge 4 cm.
Slažite na lim pokriven papirom za pečenje.
Pecite u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C oko 10 minuta.
Ispečene i ohlađene kiflice i perece uvaljajte u šećer ili ukrasite čokoladnom glazurom.