Sweet treats are always very appealing
at Christmas time. When I was young, my dad would bring home a
stollen
http://gritsandgroceries.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-stollen.html
every year at this time. Another treat we would find when we visited
neighbours were baskets filled with a special vanilla sugar cookie
known as Vanillekipferl (va
neel kip furl) These were delicious crescent-shaped cookies that
originated in Vienna, then a part of Austria-Hungary.
There
is an interesting story that goes with vanillekipferl.
Since the thirteenth century, the Ottoman empire had been battling
and conquering lands in Austria-Hungary. Finally, in 1683, German,
Polish and Austro-Hungarian forces defeated the Turks and finally ran
them out of Europe for good. After the joyous victory, the bakers
mimicked the Turkish flag's crescent emblem by baking crescent-shaped
sugar cookies. Also noteworthy is the Turks leaving behind sacks of
coffee beans which led to the famous European coffee houses, one in
Liepzig where J.S.Bach hung out and wrote his famous secular Coffee
Cantata in the 1730's
.http://youtu.be/z3s1qC3HqA4
Vanillekipferl, those vanilla
crescent cookies with that historic crescent-shape, were served all
over Vienna and today are beloved Christmas cookies not only with
central Europeans but also by those descendants living here in the
USA, who call them Christmas Vanilla Cookies. In the eighteenth
century when the vanilla cookies were brought to Paris, bakers there
took that crescent shape and created the flaky Croissant
(French for “crescent”).
Basically
these Christmas Vanilla Crescent Cookies include ground nuts, usually
almonds and/or hazelnuts, along with the vanilla for flavour. Often
they are dusted with
powdered sugar and sometimes dipped in chocolate.
Here is a fine vanillekipferl recipe, from Saveur magazine which uses walnuts for the nut flavouring.
Christmas
Vanilla Crescent Cookies Makes 4 dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for finishing cookies½ pound. unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups walnuts, finely ground in food processor
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling
Method:
Heat oven to 325F
Beat together sugar, butter, and
vanilla in a bowl; mix in ground nuts and flour.
Flour and roll into a cylinder.
Divide into 48 pieces.
Roll each piece into a sausage shape.
Taper ends; bend into a crescent.
Transfer to parchment paper-lined
baking sheets, spacing cookies 1" apart.
Bake until golden-coloured, about 12–15
minutes.
Sift with confectioners' sugar. Let
cool
Enjoy these wonderful, historic cookies, served at Christmas for more than 300 years.
The Education Tipster and I wish everyone everywhere peace and love this Christmas season.
