They're based on the Vanillekipferl my German mom made every Christmas when I was growing up. When developing this vegan version, I tested adding egg replacers but found they weren't needed - a simple almond shortbread-style dough gave the best texture.
For more classic Christmas cookies, try my vegan Linzer cookies or vegan gingerbread cookies.
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Why This Recipe Works
Delicate, tender texture. Blanched almonds give the cookies a fine, buttery crumb rather than making them dense or heavy.
Plenty of real vanilla flavor. Homemade vanilla sugar plus vanilla extract gives them much more depth than simply adding extract to a plain shortbread dough.
No egg replacer needed. After testing versions with added binders, I found the simplest dough gave a texture much closer to the Vanillekipferl I grew up eating.
Perfect for making ahead. The dough can be prepared in advance, and the baked cookies keep particularly well over Christmas.
Key ingredients
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Blanched almonds: These make a noticeable difference to the texture. I grind whole blanched almonds directly into the dough for a fine, tender crumb. Ground almonds can be used if needed, but I avoid products labeled almond flour as they can be finer and drier and may change the consistency.
Vegan block butter: Use cold, firm block-style vegan butter rather than spreadable margarine. The dough is made in a food processor, so there's no need to soften the butter first. Keeping it cold also helps the crescents hold their shape once baked.
Vanilla pod: My mom often used little packets of Vanillin Zucker, but I love using a real vanilla bean here. Blending the pod and seeds with the sugar distributes the vanilla throughout the entire cookie rather than only flavoring the surface.
Vanilla extract: I use this alongside the homemade vanilla sugar for a little extra vanilla flavor. If the dough needs a touch more moisture to come together, you can replace it with a small amount of plant milk.
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How to Make Vegan Vanillekipferl
Here's a visual overview of this recipe. Please refer to the detailed card at the end of this page for full written instructions.
The most important thing with this dough is not to over-process it. Once the cold butter goes into the food processor, it only needs a short blitz. The mixture can still look slightly crumbly when you tip it out - it should come together once you press and gently knead it into a ball.
When testing this recipe, I tried adding egg replacers but found they made the recipe more complicated without improving the texture. Finely ground almonds, cold butter, and chilling give the dough all the structure it needs.
Rolling the dough into one long log before chilling makes it much easier to divide evenly later. I weigh each piece to around 15g, which gives you crescents that bake at the same rate and look much neater together on a cookie tray.
The second chill after shaping is important. Handling the dough warms the butter, so refrigerating the crescents again before baking helps them keep their curved shape rather than spreading and flattening.
These cookies are very delicate while warm. Let them sit on the tray for a few minutes before moving them, and slide the parchment onto the cooling rack rather than trying to lift each cookie individually.
Christina's recipe tips
Keep the butter cold. Unlike a creamed cookie dough, there's no advantage to bringing the butter to room temperature here. Cold butter makes the dough easier to handle and helps prevent spreading.
Don't keep processing until the dough becomes a paste. Stop while the mixture still looks a little crumbly and bring it together by hand. Overworking it can make the cookies less tender.
Weigh the portions if you can. Around 15g each gives you evenly sized crescents that bake consistently.
Chill twice. Chill the dough log first, then chill the shaped cookies again before baking. This is one of the easiest ways to keep their crescent shape.
Use a cool baking sheet. If you're baking in batches, don't put unbaked dough onto a tray that's still hot from the oven - the butter will start softening before the cookies even go in.
Save the leftover vanilla pod. Any larger pieces left after sifting the vanilla sugar can go into a jar of granulated sugar to make vanilla sugar for future baking.
Make Ahead & Storage
he dough can be shaped into a log and refrigerated overnight or a couple of days ahead, then portioned and shaped when you're ready to bake.
You can also freeze the shaped unbaked crescents. Freeze them on a tray until firm, then transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag.
Store baked Vanillekipferl flat in an airtight container or cookie tin, with parchment between the layers, for up to 3 weeks at room temperature. Keeping them flat rather than piled into a jar also helps protect the powdered sugar coating.
For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies for up to 2 months and let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
🎄 More Christmas Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies)
Ingredients
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- 200 g (7 oz) vegan butter (block-style) cold and cubed, *see note 1
- 125 g (1 cup) blanched almonds *see note 2
- 250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 75 g (⅔ cup) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Make vanilla sugar: Slice the vanilla bean lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the scraped-out pod to a food processor along with the granulated sugar.Blitz for around 5 minutes until most of the vanilla has been ground down.
- Pass the vanilla sugar through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any larger pieces of vanilla (*see note 3).
- Make the dough: Add the vanilla sugar back to the food processor along with the blanched almonds, flour, and salt. Blitz for a couple of minutes until the ingredients are finely ground.
- Add the cold cubed butter to the food processor and blitz again, this time just for 10 seconds or so. Then blend in the vanilla extract for a few seconds and stop mixing. Don't be tempted to overwork the dough.
- Roll and chill: Turn out the dough onto a clean surface and knead it into a ball. Get a large sheet of parchment or plastic wrap, and roll the dough into a log - around 15 inches in length. Tightly wrap the log and place it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour.
- Shape and chill: Slice the log into 44 pieces (each weighing 15g). Then roll each piece into a ball, roll it into a log, and then curl in the ends so that it forms a crescent shape. Place the cookies back on a tray lined with parchment paper and chill for another 30 minutes.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F fan (200°C/392°F conventional). Place the cookies on parchment-lined cookie trays, a centimeter apart from each other, and bake for 8 minutes.
- Let the cookies sit on the baking trays for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Carefully slide the sheet of parchment paper with the cookies off of the tray and onto a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
- Garnish: Once cool, dust the cookies generously with powdered sugar.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container, each layer separated with a sheet of parchment paper and keep at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
- Vegan Butter: Use block-style buttery sticks such as Violife block or flora plant butter, not spreadable margarine from a tub.
- Blanched Almonds: In a pinch, you can use ground almonds, just note the end result may not be as moist.
- Vanilla Sugar: You can reserve any leftover pieces of vanilla pod and add them to a jar of sugar to flavor it for future use.
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I am so excited to make these! Could I use a combination of the almond flour and gluten free 1:1 flour?
Hi Jae,
You can use ground almonds, but I don't recommend ones labeled as "almond flour" as they can tend to be a bit on the dry side. For the flour, I haven't tried GF so I can't stand over the results, but I know a lot of readers have success using an all-purpose GF with my other recipes such as the linzer cookies. I hope this helps!
Is there a reason for the butter to be cold? In the previous recipes I've used always contain R. T. butter.
Hi Sindhu,
For these cookies, it needs to be cold, as you want to dough to be chilled to help hold shape during baking and it also makes it easier to work with the dough.