Vanillekipferl – Delicate Almond & Vanilla Crescent Moon Cookies

Vanillekipferl are delightful German crescent-moon-shaped vanilla shortbread cookies. Lightly sweet, nutty, and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

These Vanillekipferl cookies are tightly connected with my memories of Christmas and Advent celebrations from growing up in Germany. To serve a German cookie platter with Vanillekipferl missing is simply unthinkable to me. And rightly so, they are just utterly delectable. Tender, sweet, nutty and distinctly shaped, these cookies deserve a prominent place on any holiday dessert table. And while we only had them for Christmas, they are enjoyed by many as teatime or afternoon coffee treats throughout the year.

You just have to try these to appreciate them. They are simple and easy to make and so very scrumptious. Hey, why not grab a few ingredients and a mixing bowl and let’s whip up a batch together!

If you are a fan of healthy treats, you’ll love my Spicy Lemon & Honey Tahini Cookies, and for more holiday sweets, you must try these Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars and the fabulous Ginger Spice Apple Crisp With Cranberries. And try Pumpkin Cake with Apple & Ginger Streusel for a tasty holiday breakfast! For guilt-free dessert indulgence give my Lemon Cheesecake Mousse a try. 

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Vanillekipferl – German Vanilla Crescent Cookies

When growing up, Christmas without Vanillekipferl would have been as unthinkable as the pre-Christmas season without an Advent candle wreath. My Mama and Oma (German Grandma) were busy baking in their kitchens from the end of November till almost Christmas. Whipping up delectable and traditional German delicacies for the holidays.

Hospitality and fellowship was avidly practiced in our church community during the Advent season and inviting church brothers and sisters, or relatives for tea was a weekly custom for my parents on Sunday afternoons. An Advent wreath served as the centerpiece on the table, and depending on the Sunday, one, two, three or four candles were lit.

And right beside it was the thing that always had my utmost attention, a big platter with cookies and Christmas fruit cakes. These would tantalize the senses and sharing the food fostered a communion spirit, and in addition, it provided nourishment for all gathered souls. I was only interested in the nourishment part, lol, but the candles were pretty too.

Many Germans Take Holiday Baking Seriously!

This was the highlight of my Advent Sundays. And in all the days leading up to these events, it was super exciting, when my mom let me bake with her. She made over a dozen varieties of baked Christmas goodies each year.

Cookies such as ‘Ausstecherle’ or cutouts, ‘Braune Lebkuchen’, which are a type of honey sweetened dark gingerbread cookies, Haselnussmakronen’, a nutty macaroon cookie with a hazelnut on top, ‘Zimtsterne’, which are flourless almond cinnamon cookies, and yes, Vanillekipferl and so much more. I’m getting cravings writing about it!

And then there was ‘Christstollen’ and ‘Früchtebrot’, two types of fruit breads that are out of this world delicious, and if you ever only had a store bought version, you owe yourself to try them homemade. I’ll try my best to post some of these recipes soon, stay tuned and get on my list for notifications!

Ok, enough of this reminiscing. I could literally fill pages, lol, and I might eventually, but today we need to make some Kipferl, so let’s get back to the subject at hand already!

A Bit Of Vanillekipferl History

The word Kipferl refers to the crescent shape of the cookies, but the connotation is also used for yeasted croissant rolls or other crescent shaped baked goods in Austria and Southern Germany. Versions of Vanillekipferl are popular in many European countries, and its history is a bit muddled with varied stories of their origin. 

A popular version says that Kipferl originated in Austria. It is said that when the Ottoman Turks, who had invaded Austria, were defeated in 1683 in the battle of Vienna, Kipferl were created by Vienna bakers to celebrate that victory and that is the reason for the crescent shape, which aims to replicate the Ottoman flag’s crescent moon.

But other reports suggest that they were invented long before, in the 12th Century.

In any case, vanilla, the spice, was not introduced until much later, and could only be enjoyed by the well-off elite. Imported from Africa, it was unaffordable for most. However, in the 19th century vanillin was invented in Germany, a synthetic version of vanilla that could be produced at low cost and so vanilla as a flavoring became available to a much broader population.

Since then vanilla became the main flavoring of these Vanillekipferl, and I think they are the most famous. There are many other versions of these little cookies, such as Mandelkipferl (Almond crescents) or Linzer Kipferl (jam filled crescents).

Why You’ll Love Vanillekipferl 

• Vanillekipferl are incredibly delicious and melt-in-your-mouth tender. They are going to be a favorite on your Christmas cookie platter. I would bet that once you make them, they will become a new tradition in your Holiday baking or even year round. They are just so good!

• They are quick and easy to make for the most part. Great fun for kids too!

• While not exactly a health food, I’m providing a healthier recipe version for you here, that tastes just as delicious, if not better, than the traditional recipe that uses white flour and sugar, but it’s more wholesome and a little less sweet, and if you’re trying to keep healthy through the holidays, these will satisfy your cookie craving while providing some nutrients and less glycemic response.

• Nuts are nutritious and an important part of these cookies. You’ll get a good amount of health benefits from the nuts. From healthy Omega-3 fatty acids to minerals and antioxidants, nuts are densely packed with nutrition that will support your health. Traditionally these cookies are made with either walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts, but consider pecans and pistachios too for a change. Take your pick or mix them. I remember we used to make them with almonds back in Germany, and I still prefer almonds, but I’ve made them with hazelnuts, which gives a much stronger nut flavor, and walnuts, which makes the cookies even more tender and I love the walnut flavor. But I think, they are delicious no matter what nuts you use. 

• Use fresh milled einkorn flour for the best health benefits and nutrition. Einkorn flour is easily tolerated by most, even many who suffer from wheat sensitivities. By milling your own from scratch, you’ll retain all the fiber, vitamins and minerals, as well as the healthy oils that are generally stripped away from even pre-ground whole wheat flour and most certainly from white flour. White flour is just an empty calorie, but fresh milled einkorn flour will support your health!

• Butter adds delicious, rich flavor and is a must in this recipe, and it too supplies healthy fats, and, if you can get organic butter from pasture raised dairy animals, you’ll get some important essential nutrients, including vitamins A, D, E, and K. It also contains minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and selenium. Butter too can support your health! 

How To Make Vanillekipferl From Scratch

Tools You May Need

Grain mill – I love my Mockmill for grinding fresh flour.

Rotary grater, Blender, Coffee, nut and spice grinder, or Food processor – I used a Geedel cheese grinder with the fine attachment. It works great, but the nuts were a little on the coarse side, so I gave them a whirl in my coffee grinder to process them just a little more. You’ll want to grind the nuts fairly fine, but keep some texture. Alternatively you could use a coarse unpeeled almond flour.

A few bowls – A bowl to catch the flour and the nuts, and a bowl for mixing the dough.

Baking sheet – You might need to bake them in two batches. Only bake one sheet at a time and keep the other one in the refrigerator till baking time.

Parchment paper – I like to line the baking sheet with parchment, which I reuse several times. But you could use a silicone baking mat.

Whisk or hand mixer – Use a whisk or a hand mixer for creaming the dough.

Knife or bench knife – for slicing your dough into portions to form.

Cutting board

Sieve or sifter (Optional) – Kipferl can be dipped in sugar after baking or you can dust them with a sieve while still warm and again when cooled.

Ingredients For Vanillekipferl

I use organic or homegrown ingredients wherever possible, because I’m passionate to keep pesticides and other weird chemicals, as well as GMO ingredients out of my diet. I feel that every bite should count towards better health, even when they are a treat. And using wholesome, clean, and nutrient dense ingredients taste so much better than nutritionally empty food that’s unnatural and laced with a variety of toxins. 

Butter

Use the best butter you can afford. This is a major ingredient and contributes much to the final flavor. I love using Kerrygold butter which is from pastured dairy cows. 

Sugar

Powdered evaporated cane juice, panela sugar (sucanat), or coconut sugar – I don’t buy powdered sugar. It is generally made with GMO ingredients and contains cornstarch to prevent caking. I would consider using organic powdered sugar, but I find it easier to just grind up some less refined, organic cane sugar crystals with a little arrowroot starch and use that instead. I tried these cookies with panela sugar, but it adds a really strong flavor of its own, which I don’t like as much for these cookies, however, this could maybe turn into a whole new kipferl variety with some gingerbread spices to make a gingerbread kipferl, lol.

Nuts

Finely ground almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, or pecans – I use nuts with the skin on. I find that everyone has a different opinion on what nuts are best, hey, the best nuts are the ones you have easiest access to or those you generally prefer eating. Walnuts and hazelnuts will give a stronger flavor, almonds are more neutral. But they all work. I grew up with Kipferl made with almonds, but now I find walnuts easy to access and use those some times. You could use almond flour for this, but only in a pinch, it does not really provide the ideal texture for this cookie recipe, and I would avoid blanched almond flour. If you want to use it, I recommend coarse flour from unpeeled, unblanched almonds for best flavor and texture.

Flour

Fresh milled einkorn flour – This gives a wonderfully nutty flavor and I love the extra texture and slight crunchiness it provides. I use einkorn berries to grind into flour but if you don’t have a grinder, you could use pre-ground einkorn flour. You can also use all-purpose flour, but I recommend sifting it before measuring and then measuring by weight.

Flavorings

Pinch of salt – This is actually not in my original recipe, but I like to add just a pinch for a bit more flavor. My favorites are Redmond’s real salt, Himalayan pink salt, and Celtic sea salt all of which are unrefined and contain essential trace minerals.

Organic vanilla extract – In Germany we used vanilla sugar. I don’t recommend the German brand that we used, because it’s artificially flavored. But it’s a staple and easy to find in any German store. Not so much here in the U.S. You could buy organic vanilla sugar online, but vanilla extract works just fine too inside the cookie dough. My mom’s recipe uses scrapings of a vanilla bean in this recipe, which is another And see my vanilla bean entry below on how to make your own vanilla sugar.

Vanilla bean (optional for making vanilla sugar) – In Germany we would use powdered sugar mixed with vanilla sugar to dip the finished cookies in. This makes a generous sugar coating with a nice vanilla flavor, but it is artifical flavoring, and I wouldn’t use it now.

Here I improvise with one of three options. I can just use powdered cane sugar with no vanilla and maybe increase the vanilla in the dough just a little.

Or I can take some vanilla bean scrapings and put them in a blender or coffee grinder with some evaporated cane juice sugarcrystals (1/2 cup) and a bit of arrowroot starch (1 ½ tsp), give it a quick whirl, but keep some texture. Then mix it with some powdered cane sugar and sprinkle the cookies with it.

Or, if you have time, you could take a vanilla bean pod and put it into a pint mason jar, pour sugar over it and let it steep for a couple of weeks. The vanilla bean is still fine to use for other things like making vanilla extract or using the scrapings for flavoring. When I make my own vanilla extract, I dry the pods after they are done extracting and mix those with sugar and they still work great at infusing the sugar. Double duty done well!

Instructions For Making Vanillekipferl

Shaping these cookies can be a little tricky since the pastry is quite brittle. But you can do it if I can! And you’ll kind of hope for a couple of broken ones anyway for guilt-free snacking later 😜.

Cream the softened butter with a hand mixer or a whisk until smooth.

Add the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and cream till smooth and creamy.

Lastly add your flour and nuts and mix just till incorporated, do not overmix.

It will be like crumbles. 

Give it all a quick knead, just enough to make a dough that holds together. 

Now form a two long rolls and wrap them each in a piece of parchment or plastic wrap. Place into the refrigerator until it firms up well for an hour or a whole day. 

Take your first roll out of the fridge and leave the other in the fridge to remain chilled. Cut into 15-20 small portions. (I cut it in half, then I cut the halves in half and after that it’s easy to get 4 equal parts out of each portion. They are fairly big. If you want smaller cookies, try to get 5 pieces out of each quarter).

Form small sausage shapes with your hands. Bend them into a crescent shape, careful not to point the tips too much or they may burn.

Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Now put the cookies with the sheet into the refrigerator until the cookies are well chilled.

Then bake at 375 degrees until they just start to turn golden at the edges, about 15 minutes. Careful, they brown quickly once they are baked through. You don’t want the cookies to turn color, and don’t let the bottoms get too brown.

When finished, let them cool for two to three minutes on the sheet.

Then carefully dust them with the vanilla sugar mix and place them on a cooling rack.

Some of the sugar will melt at this point, don’t add more sugar now, let them cool completely and just before serving, give them another light dusting of vanilla sugar. 

Tips For The Best Vanillekipferl and substitutions

• These cookies taste fabulous without the final sugar coating, so feel free to omit that if you’re trying to cut back on sugar. But the white sugar crust is a signature finish for these cookies and kind of important for a perfect and traditional final presentation if that matters to you. Here is a tip for reducing sugar! Only dust them lightly once after they cooled. If you’re dipping them, dip only the tops and leave the bottoms plain, which looks nice, and reduces the sugar content.

• If you’re grinding your own sugar, you might not get as bright of a white snowy coating and homemade sugar tends to fade away quicker than the commercial. So be sure to add some arrowroot or cornstarch to your sugar and if presentation matters, you’ll want to use commercial powdered sugar as your base for the decorative dusting.

• Be sure your nuts are finely ground. I use a Geedel cheese grinder for grinding my nuts, but they end up pretty coarse. This makes the cookies more prone to breaking and it adds lots of chewy bits. So it’s best to use a coffee grinder to give them another quick whirl, but don’t make them super fine! Add part of the flour to keep them from turning to nut butter. 

• Chilling your dough will make it easier to handle, and chilling your cookies before baking will keep them from spreading too much and getting all flat. 

• Keep the points blunt to avoid burning at the tips.

• If you’re allergic to nuts, this may not be an ideal recipe for you, though you could make them by replacing the nuts with flour or a kind of nut or seed that works for you, I’m thinking hemp seed maybe. Just remember that each substitution will change the end result quite a bit.

• Let the cookies rest in their cookie tin for 2-3 days for best flavor!

Variations

• Try adding almond extract instead of vanilla, and roll the cookies in slivered almonds or ground almonds before baking.

• Try cinnamon as a flavoring and roll in cinnamon sugar after baking.

• Use any nuts or seeds you fancy for variety.

Storage

Once completely cooled, place the cookies in a cookie tin where they will keep for 2-3 weeks. You can freeze them for longer storage. If you can help yourself, let them rest in the tin for 2-3 days before serving. The flavor will improve!

Your Questions Answered

Enjoy Your Vanillekipferl!

If you’ve been following along and made these with me just now, I bet your kitchen smells so wonderful right now and I know your mouth is watering! I hope you broke a few of the cookies (which is easy enough to do), because you’ll be so thrilled when you taste a piece, and you’ll want an excuse to keep tasting!

Vanillekipferl are indescribably delicious and you are now initiated into the wonderful world of home-baked German Christmas cookies. These Vanillekipferl are a true classic. They are one of the most baked Christmas cookie recipes in Germany and a favorite of mine. And I think they have much potential to become a tradition in your home too. Enjoy!

Have you made this recipe? I’d love to get your feedback and your ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating! And I’d love to hear what your favorite Holiday season cookie is. And please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments if you have any questions!

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Grain mill
Parchment paper
Knife
Cutting board
Hand mixer
Vitamix
Blender
Food processor
Coffee, nut and spice grinder
Rotary grater
Panela sugar
Evaporated cane juice
Coconut sugar
Organic vanilla sugar
Redmond’s real salt
Himalayan pink salt
Celtic sea salt
Almonds
Hazelnuts
Walnuts
Einkorn berries
Einkorn flour
Vanilla beans
Organic vanilla extract. You can get it in bulk from Azure Standard