Viennese Vanilla Crescents Recipes

VIENNESE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Cream the butter and add the sugar and vanilla and beat to fluffy. Add the flour and nuts and mix in. Chill the dough for at least one hour. The more it's chilled the less it spreads during baking.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Shape the dough into tiny crescents using 1 teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Place them on an ungreased sheet pan in rows, leaving 1 inch in between for spreading and bake until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• Let cool 5 minutes. Dredge them in confectioners' sugar.

VIENNESE CRESCENT COOKIES

Steps:

• In an airtight container, combine the confectioners' sugar and vanilla bean and let stand, covered, for at least 24 hours. Sift before using. (The vanilla sugar will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to several months.)
• In a food processor or high-powered blender, pulse together the flour, 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, salt, and hazelnuts until the nuts are finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and pulse just until a dough forms. If the dough is crumbly, you may need to pulse it a little longer until it forms a dough. Turn the dough onto your work surface and gently form it into a ball and then flatten it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven.
• Roll level tablespoons of dough (about 18 grams) into balls. Then roll each ball on a smooth surface into a 3-inch log with slightly tapered ends. Bend each log to form crescents and arrange them about 1 inch apart on baking sheets.
• Bake the cookies until the edges are pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 2 minutes.
• Sift enough vanilla confectioners' sugar onto a rimmed baking sheet to cover the bottom.
• Carefully transfer the slightly cooled baked crescent cookies to the sugared baking sheet and sprinkle with enough sugar to coat completely. Move the crescents to wire racks to cool completely. (The cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax or parchment paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.)

VIENNESE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Beat the butter on medium speed of mixer until lightened in color and creamy.
• Sift 3/4 cup powdered sugar over the butter and beat until well combined.
• Stir in vanilla and nuts.
• Graduallly sift flour over the top while stirring.
• Knead until well blended.
• Pull off generous 1-tablespoon pieces of doug, roll with your hands into a short rope and shape into crescents.
• NOTE: If the dough is soft and difficult to handle, refrigerate until slightly firm.
• Space 1 1/4 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time until the crescents are tinged with brown and slightly darker at the edges, 13 to 16 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking for even browning.
• Remove the sheet to a cooling rack and let stand until the cookies firm slightly.
• Transfer the cookies to racks and cool completely. Sift 2/3 cup of powdered sugar over cookies (entire batch) until evenly coated.

VIENNESE VANILLA COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and add sugar. Add 1/2 cup of flour mixing after each addition. Add remaining ingredients. Shape into a disk and then chill for 30 minutes. You can also put the dough in the freezer at this point.
• Begin to roll the dough the dough so that it is about 1/4-inch thick or a little more. Cut with cookie cutters. Place dough on parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet. I prefer using parchment paper. It's just easier.
• Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes or until the edges are a bit brown. You may need to lower your oven to 325 degrees F.
• You can also freeze or chill the dough in a log shape rather than a disk. If you do this, simply cut small rounds about 1/4 inch thick and place these rounds on the lined cookie sheet. These bake for 15 minutes. (This works well, if you want to transport dough to a friend's house and have kids form the cookies.)
• Once the cookies come out of the oven, either cool them on the cookie sheet or move the parchment paper to a cookie rack. As the cookies cool, but before they're fully cooled, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.
• Arrange on a plate and don't blink because they'll disappear before you open your eyes. Eat.
• That's the classic Brown family cookie. Without it Christmas simply isn't Christmas. Sometimes I bring a batch from my Chicago home and that simply doesn't work. My sister and mother are upset that the house doesn't smell like Christmas...no cookie smell in the air. I'm often required to make many batches...and the cookies are eaten at all times
• and for all meals.
• These were the cookies we left for Santa...He regularly gobbled them up, leaving only a few crumbs on the plate and a note that said, "These are excellent cookies, the best I've had." In retrospect, the writing looked an awful lot like my father's... If they're good enough for Santa, I think they're good enough for anyone.

VIENNESE ALMOND CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
• In small bowl, mix flour, almond meal and salt, stirring well with wire whisk. In large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until blended. Refrigerate 10 minutes.
• Shape dough into 40 (2-inch) logs; bend logs to form crescent shape. Place crescents 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks; sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar.

VIENNESE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven 350°.
• Add nuts and butter to food processor.
• Grind to paste.
• Add sugar and flour; process.
• Shape dough into small crescents about 1 1/2 inches long.
• Bake in ungreased baking sheet until lightly browned, about 15 to 18 minutes.
• Roll in vanilla sugar (powdered sugar that has had a vanilla bean stored in).

PATRICIA'S VIENNESE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Using a small, sharp knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a small bowl. Discard the pod. Add 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar and use a mortar or the back of a spoon to pound and mix them together. Add the remaining confectioners' sugar and stir to combine. Cover and let stand at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Vanilla sugar can be made ahead and stored, in an airtight container at room temperature, indefinitely.
• Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and a second rack in the lower third then preheat to 350°F.
• Using a food processor, grind the walnuts into a chunky paste then transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed, scraping the bowl occasionally, until completely incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the flour in 3 batches and stir until a smooth dough forms, about 2 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface, shape heaping tablespoons of dough into 3- to 4-inch-long ropes, tapering the ends. Curve each rope into a crescent shape. Transfer to a baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. Bake, switching the cookies between the upper and lower racks about halfway through baking, until light golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool 2 to 3 minutes then carefully roll them in vanilla sugar and place on racks to cool completely. Continue baking cookies on cooled baking sheets. DO AHEAD: The cookies can be baked ahead and stored, in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 3 days.

VIENNESE ALMOND CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the almonds. Combine the flour and salt and stir into the butter mixture.
• Pinch off about 1 tablespoon of dough. Roll it between your palms to make a cigar shape. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and gently curve it into a cresent. Repeat, placing the cookies 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are barely golden, about 12 minutes.
• Immediately transfer cookies to a rack to cool. Cookies can be frozen in an airtight container, with wax paper between each layer, for up to 6 months. Defrost 30 minutes before serving. Immediately before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

VIENNESE CRESCENT HOLIDAY COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, butter, nuts, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, salt, and vanilla. Hand mix until thoroughly blended. Shape dough into a ball. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, place sugar in a bowl or small container. With sharp chef's knife, split vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape out seeds, and mix them into the sugar. Cut pod into 2 inch pieces and mix into sugar.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and form into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball into a small roll, 3 inches long. Place rolls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, and bend each one to make a crescent shape.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set but not brown.
• Let stand 1 minute, then remove from cookie sheets. Place hot cookies on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with prepared sugar mixture. Turn gently to coat on both sides. Cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Just before serving, coat with more vanilla flavored sugar.

VIENNESE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Chop vanilla bean. Pound it in a mortar or pulverize it in an electric blender with about one tablespoon of the confectioner's sugar. Mix with the remaining confectioners' sugar. Cover and let stand, preferably overnight. Reserve while cookies are baked.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut walnuts with a sharp knife into very small pieces. Pound the pieces to a paste, using mortar and pestle.
• With a wooden spoon or the fingers, mix walnuts, butter, granulated sugar and flour to a smooth dough. Shape dough, about a teaspoon at a time, into small crescents about one and a half inches in diameter.
• Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet until lightly browned, or 15 to 18 minutes. Cool one minute. While still warm, roll cookies in prepared vanilla sugar.