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Discover how to make perfect vegan almond crescent cookies without eggs! These German Vanillekipferl are a classic in holiday baking, completely free from animal products! Yet, they are so delicious and almost melt in your mouth!
Welcome to the enchanting world of traditional holiday baking with a twist – today, we’re making vegan almond crescent cookies! These delicate, crescent-shaped treats are a true classic among holiday sweets and a must-have in every festive cookie jar.
Imagine opening your cookie jar to be greeted by the sweet aroma of freshly baked, vanilla-coated almond crescents. This scent, so intimately linked with the holiday season, comes to life in your kitchen. Vegan almond crescent cookies are not just a feast for your taste buds but also a testament to how simple and delicious vegan baking can be.
The perfect almond crescent cookie recipe: They’re crispy, crumbly, yet buttery soft, boasting a wonderful vanilla flavor and coated with delicate powdered sugar – exactly how perfect almond crescents should be. Who can resist this sweet delight that nearly melts on your tongue?
I want to show you that these traditional treats don’t need any animal products. With simple ingredients available in any supermarket, we’ll create a recipe that’s not only vegan but also irresistibly delicious. You can confidently skip the egg, replacing butter with margarine – it’s that easy!
Ingredients
See recipe card for quantities.
Visual Step-by-Step Instructions
This visual step-by-step instruction will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a baking beginner!
MAKE THE DOUGH: Mix white flour, ground almonds, powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add vegan butter in pieces and mix with a stand mixer or hand mixer to a crumbly dough.
CHILL THE DOUGH: Knead the crumbly mixture by hand into a smooth dough, wrap in cling film, and let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour. → Chilling makes it much easier to form the dough into crescents later.
SHAPE: Shape the cold dough into crescents.
Shaping Almond Crescent Cookies
- Prepare the Dough: Make sure your dough is well chilled. Then divide it into 3-4 portions.
- Forming the Dough Rolls: Roll each portion into an even roll, about 1 inch thick. There’s no need to flour the work surface.
- Cutting Slices: Cut the roll into slices about 0.4 inches thick. A knife or dough scraper is ideal for this.
- Forming Small Rolls: Take a slice and roll it between your hands into a small roll. It’s okay if the middle is a bit thicker.
- Shaping into Crescents: Gently bend each roll into a crescent shape. This will give you the classic form of the cookies.
BAKE & DUST: Transfer crescents to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, then dust with powdered sugar while still warm.
Tips
- Chilling: Ideally, chill the dough in the refrigerator for an hour. If you’re in a hurry, you can turbo-chill it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Baking: The crescents are done once the tips start to brown slightly, but the rest remains white. You definitely don’t want brown almond crescents.
- Dusting: Dust the cookies while they’re still warm so the powdered sugar sticks better. Once out of the oven, place them on a rack and sprinkle with a mixture of powdered sugar and vanilla sugar using a small sieve. → Place clean baking paper underneath to collect and reuse any sugar that doesn’t stick to the cookies.
- Extra Flavor: If you like, you can add almond extract for extra flavor.
Make-Ahead & Storage Instructions
Prepare the dough ahead of time: You can store the raw cookie dough for up to 2 days in the fridge. Then shape and bake. → If the dough is hard to shape, it might be too cold. Let it sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes before continuing.
Store baked cookies in a cookie tin or airtight container at room temperature. They keep fresh for at least one week.
Freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months in a freezer bag and thaw single cookies for 1 hour at room temperature.
More Vegan Christmas Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Almond Crescent Cookies – German Vanillekipferl
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Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (60 g) almond flour (ground blanched almonds)
- ½ cup (30 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar see notes
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (113 g) vegan butter
Sugar Coating
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar see notes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt.
- Add cold vegan butter in pieces and mix with a stand mixer or hand mixer to a crumbly dough.
- Knead the crumbly mixture by hand into a smooth dough, wrap in cling film, and let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour. → Chilling makes it much easier to form the dough into crescents later.
- Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C).
- Shaping Crescents: Divide the dough into 3-4 portions.
- Divide the cold dough into 4 pieces and roll each into an even roll, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Then cut the roll into slices about 0.4 inches (1 cm) thick. Roll each slice into a finger-thick roll, then bend into a crescent shape.
- Transfer crescents to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool briefly.
- In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and vanilla sugar. Dust the warm cookies with it.
Notes
- Vanilla sugar is a very common Swiss/German baking product. If you don’t have vanilla sugar, you can make your own by mixing 2 tbsp caster sugar with the scraped-out seeds of one vanilla bean.
- Sugar Coating: Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar while they are still warm. This helps the sugar-coating adhere better.
- Turbo Cooling: If you’re short on time, there’s a little trick: Instead of chilling the dough in the refrigerator for an hour, you can place it in the freezer for 15 minutes
- Stored in a cookie jar at room temperature, they will stay fresh for several weeks.
