Vanilla Crescents

MAKES 1 TRAY

For the dough: 2¼ cups (280 g) wheat flour, ½ cup + 1¼ tsp (50 g) ground almonds, ½ cup (50 g) ground hazelnuts, 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar, 1 pinch salt, ¾ cup + 3 tbsp (210 g) cold butter

Additional: flour to knead in, ½ cup + 1/3 cup (100 g) powdered sugar, and ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar to roll the cookies in, 1 whole vanilla pod

For the dough, pour flour, almonds, hazelnuts, sugar, and salt out onto the countertop. Cut the butter into small pieces, rub it into the rest of the ingredients until crumbly, and knead into a smooth dough. Shape it into a cylindrical roll about 2 in. (5 cm) thick, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let rest for 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C), unless you have a convection oven, in which case preheat to 320°F (160°C), or a gas oven, in which case preheat to level 3. Cut the roll of dough into finger-thick slices and, with floured hands, form into tapered crescents. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated oven (middle rack) for 12 minutes until lightly colored.

Meanwhile, mix the powdered sugar with the granulated sugar to make the coating for the cookies. Cut open the vanilla pod, scrape out the pulp, and mix it in with the sugar mixture. Remove the vanilla crescents from the oven, and while they are still hot, use two forks to very carefully roll them in the vanilla sugar.

Caution: When the vanilla crescents are still warm, they are very fragile.

If you want to make your own reserves of vanilla sugar, place the scratched-out pulp from a vanilla bean in a jar (pint-sized [500 ml in volume], with a clip lock) with granulated sugar and let the mixture stand for approximately two weeks.

 

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