These cookies, like the others in the December 2012 issue, Bavarian Dream, also have a dryness issue. The dough is not coming together. Any help Saveur?
Vanillekipferl (Anise-Seed Crescent Cookies)
The recipe for these Christmas cookies comes from the bakery Rischart in Munich. This recipe first appeared in our December 2012 issue along with Todd Coleman's story Bavarian Dream.
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Credit: Todd Coleman
INGREDIENTS
1 cup sugar6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2½ cups flour
1 tbsp. crushed anise seeds
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Coarse sanding sugar, to decorate
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oven to 400°. Beat sugar and butter on medium-high speed of a hand mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and yolks; beat until smooth. Add flour, anise, and salt; beat until just combined. Pinch off 1-tbsp.-sized pieces of dough, roll each into a cylinder; bend to form a crescent. Place 2" apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Brush with egg white, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until browned, 12–15 minutes.NOTE: This recipe has been adjusted from the version that ran in the print edition of SAVEUR. The quantity of sugar has been increased by ¼ cup, the eggs have been adjusted from 2 yolks to 2 whole eggs, the size of the cookies have been decreased, and the baking time has been increased.
Ratings & Reviews (5)
I get so aggrevated at these incorrect recipes. You can not create anything out of this dough. Needs way more butter or something to hold it together. Another Christmas cookie disaster.
I also had problems with dryness of the cookie dough, and thought the dough might have been ok at 2 cups of flour (1/2 cup less than the recipe said). I omitted the anise seeds and used 1 tsp of vanilla sugar in its place. To get the dough to come together, I added half an egg white, but it was still somewhat crumbly. These cookies were really quite large at 2 tbsp of dough per cookie and they did not look like the photograph since I wasn't able to shape the dough into neat cylinders.
I had trouble with these cookies too! The dough was dry and formless. I added an extra yolk and then some of the white to finally get the dough to come together. They needed to then bake longer and didn't look pretty.
Yep, there were problems with this recipe, but we figured out it needed more butter to help hold the dough together. We ended up using 1 cup (2 sticks, like another recipe from Saveur we made the same day). After that, they were fantastic. I love the flavor. It was the best cookie recipe we made for Christmas this year.
Vanillekipferl (Anise-Seed Crescent Cookies)
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