For our cookbook editor, Bonnie, nothing says Christmas like these melt-in-your-mouth vanilla crescent cookies. They get a double hit of vanilla, in the dough and the finishing sugar.
My mom and grandmother baked for Christmas…and baked…and baked. They came from the former Yugoslavia—a country that has been part of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires and also has German and Macedonian influences in their culture and cuisine. This created a multi-ethnic basis for our holiday baking.
They baked multilevel tortes—dobos—which hail from Austria, and this is the one cake that comes to mind as a Christmas showstopper. The cake is made up of at least six thin layers of tender vanilla cake, sandwiched between luscious chocolate buttercream, and it’s all topped with crunchy caramel topping. It was my absolute favourite but also labour-intensive, so when deciding what recipe to share, another less involved treat came to mind. We still make these German vanilla crescent cookies to this day. It is truly a simple, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth cookie. There are two parts to the cookie—the cookie part and the vanilla-scented sugar that you roll the warm cookie in. —Bonnie Young, cookbook editor
Ingredients for Vanilla Crescent Cookies
For the cookie
1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup finely ground walnuts (use the freshest walnuts you can as they are the star of the show!)
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
For the sugar mixture
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
Instructions for Vanilla Crescent Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, salt, cold butter cubes, powdered sugar, nuts and vanilla seeds. Mix at medium speed until a crumbly dough forms. If it's too dry, you can add 1-2 tbsp milk until the desired consistency is achieved.
- Use your hands to bring the dough together and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill dough for one hour.
- Using a small scoop, make rounds of dough that then get shaped into small cylinders that taper at the ends. Bend each one into a crescent shape and place each crescent onto the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake the cookies for 12-15 min, just until the edges start to turn golden.
- Meanwhile, combine the remaining powdered sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl. Soon after the cookies come out of the oven, gently roll them in the prepared sugar mixture.
- Cool completely and enjoy.
