German Hazelnut Crescents with 5 Ingredients

You may have had enough from cookies, but I don’t care, I decided to blog a last-minute recipe: German hazelnut crescents with five ingredients. This recipe was passed down to me by a lovely lady in Munich. Just as these Heidesand cookies and this Dresdner Eierschecke are recipes from readers, this one has a funny backstory. The German platform Nebenan.de works like a community platform, I got curious when I saw that somebody was asking whether German bakeries in the vicinity sold homemade cookies. I learned that his mother had requested homemade cookies during the season. Since she had recently moved to a nursery home, she couldn’t make them herself anymore. He didn’t dare to make some, so I inquired. One thing let to another and after all I managed to bake these crescents according to his mother’s recipe. Yes, of course she got a batch right away.

I like these crescents a lot, they are unusual in the sense that they do not contain any egg, it is only the butter that keeps them together. Since I was not used to this type of dough, I had to try two times. Normally vanilla crescents or Vanillekipferl are made with an egg. The other difference is that traditionally almonds are used instead of hazelnuts. I highly recommend chilling the dough for at least an hour or overnight. The butter needs to harden and the flour has to develop its glue. This recipe is a rather small batch, it is for one baking sheet. You can easily double or triple it. But now let’s get going!

Credit: From grandma B. in Munich

Print Recipe

German Hazelnut Crescents

Serves: One baking sheet, recipe can easily be doubled

Prep Time: 45min – Cooking Time: 10min – Total Time: 55min

These German hazelnut crescents don't contain any egg and can easily be frozen.

Ingredients

• 100 grams of all-purpose flour
• 100 grams of ground hazelnuts
• 60 grams of regular sugar
• 100 grams of butter at room temperature
• Optional: 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Some milk, if needed
• Icing sugar mixed with vanilla sugar for dusting

Instructions

1

Mix flour, hazelnuts, and sugar in a large bowl. Add butter and vanilla extract and and mix with a mixer until you have fine crumbs. Now work the dough into a ball with your hands. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add a sip of milk. Chill for at least an hour or overnight. As this dough does not contain any egg, it can be kept in an airtight container for a week in the fridge and easily be frozen.

2

Once ready, divide into three equal parts, roll each into a log, then cut off about 1-2 cm from the log, roll this into a string, and then shape into crescents. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. While the cookies are still warm, be sure to dust with icing sugar infused with vanilla or mixed with vanilla sugar. Keep airtight.