This recipe for typical South Tyrolean Christmas biscuits was given to me by a friend during a photo workshop in Sicily.
Buttery and aromatic biscuits that melt in your mouth and are irresistible for an afternoon hot chocolate, perhaps after a good ski!
Vanillakipferl
- Preparation time: 90 minutes
- Ingredients for 24 biscuits
- Difficulty: Easy recipe
- Ingredients
- 1 cup (150 grams) of all-purpose flour
- 1 stick (110 grams) of butter
- 2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon (35 grams) of sugar
- 4 tablespoons (50 grams) of chopped almonds
- 1 vanilla pod
- Icing sugar to taste
- Sugar to taste
- Instructions
- Chop the almonds in a food processor until they become flour-like.
- With a sharp knife, cut the vanilla bean starting from one end and arriving at the other. With the tip of the knife, spread the stick a little and scrape the pulp along the entire length in order to extract the seeds that are the aromatic part.
- Sift the flour on a pastry board. Put the cold butter in small pieces in the center and start working the two ingredients until the flour is mixed with the butter: this process is called sandblasting.
- Add the sugar, almonds, and vanilla seeds, mixing quickly.
Let the obtained dough rest in the refrigerator for about an hour, wrapped with cellophane. - After this time, form finger-thick rolls with the dough. Cut them into pieces of 3-inch length and then arch the two ends to give them the shape of croissants.
- Place the biscuits on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350° F for about ten to fifteen minutes.
- Allow the biscuits to cool for a few minutes and then pass them in powdered sugar mixed with granulated sugar.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- It would be preferable to sandblast with a knife or food processor in order not avoid touching the butter too much with your hands.
- After forming the cookies, I always put them back in the refrigerator for at least ten minutes to ensure that the shape taken does not deteriorate during cooking.
- The timing of cooking in the oven is indicative because each oven cooks differently.
