Viennese Vanilla Crescents

from The Gourmet Cookbook
edited by Ruth Reichl
(Houghtlin Mifflin, 2006)
Makes about 8 dozen cookies

“From Vienna, city of music, laughter, and good food,” wrote Gourmet’s longtime contributor Lillian Langseth-Christensen, “comes a cookie so delicate, so fragile, so meltingly good that it takes its place with the most famous of Vienna ’s justly famous pastries.” She shared this recipe with her readers early on in Gourmet’s history. The vanilla-scented sugar can be used any time you want to enhance something with the delicate, enticing aroma and taste of vanilla. Try it sprinkled on fresh fruit or a simple cake.—The Gourmet Cookbook

convert Ingredients
For the vanilla confectioners’ sugar
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and chopped

For the crescents
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (5 ounces) skinned hazelnuts
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 cups vanilla confectioners’ sugar

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Method
Make the vanilla confectioners’ sugar
1. Combine confectioners’ sugar and vanilla bean in an airtight container and let stand, covered, for at least 24 hours. Sift before using.

Make the crescents
1. Pulse together flour, 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, salt, and hazelnuts in a food processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter and pulse just until a dough forms. Turn dough out and form into a ball, then flatten into a disk and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

2. Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

3. Roll level tablespoons of dough into balls, then roll each one on a smooth surface into a 3-inch length with slightly tapered ends, rolling ends lightly to make them narrow. Bend lengths to form crescents and arrange about 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake in batches until edges are pale golden, 10 to 15 minutes per batch.

5. While each batch of crescents is baking, sift enough vanilla confectioners’ sugar onto a baking sheet with sides to cover bottom. Carefully transfer warm baked crescents to baking sheet and sprinkle with additional vanilla confectioners’ sugar. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

Note: The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. The cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax or parchment paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The vanilla sugar keeps indefinitely in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe © 2004 by Conde Nast Publications. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Leite’s Culinaria, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use.