Ingredients:
Timing
Prep: 30 minutes
Rest: 1 hour
Hands On & Bake: 50 minutes
Bake: 340 °F (170 °C) 14 minutes
Coat with Sugar: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Makes
About 7 dozen
Cookies
2 1⁄3 cups (330 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3⁄4 cup (90 g) powdered sugar
1 cup (100 g) walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks (1 cup / 230 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 egg yolks
Topping
1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar or
1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar (to make your own powdered sugar)
1 vanilla bean
Thank you for the Vanilla Crescent recipe. I remember my mother making these.
I also remember she made a variation where she made flat vanilla Xmas cookie shapes from the Vanilla Crescent dough, coated them with powdered sugar then made sandwitches out of the cookies by spreading jams (usually red currant) between two of the same shapes.
There was also another recipe. My mother would make cupcake crusts from chocolate hazlenut dough, cover those with powdered sugar and when cooled she filled the crusts with chocolate or vanilla pudding.
🙂 Today I will post another recipe. I am now recording it. There are so many kinds of Christmas cookies and I will try to have here over the years as many I can. I love to make all of them. Your mom made some yummies. Sounds great. 🙂
Milan, your description reminds me Linecke curkovi.
It´s another Czech Christmas classic from similar, but a bit different dough (no nuts) – although its name reveales it comes from Austria from the town called Linz in Upper Austria) 🙂
I’m making a few different types of Christmas cookies for my neighborhood for the holidays. One of my favorite neighbors is from Czech so I wanted to make one that would hopefully be a tradition in her family. I am thinking of making these. I ordered “natural vanilla/sucre vanillé” from Amazon. One of the commenters on Amazon mentioned that she used it for Czech cookies so I bought it before thinking that it may not work for these specifically. Have you heard or used this type of sugar before? Sorry for the long message, I just want to make something for her that is as close to traditional as possible.
Yes originally it is used – vanilla sugar, but I created this recipe using vanilla extract instead, since it is more available. The taste is the same with it or without it. It is nice of you to make it for her.
Hello! My mother made these crescent cookies and I have followed her tradition. She would slice a vanilla bean and let it sit in powdered or Caster sugar which is a fine ground sugar but not as fine as powdered. After a month or more, the sugar takes on the flavor of the vanilla bean.
Milane vy jste naprostý šílenec a borec dohromady. Něco takového jsem ještě neviděla a to jsem toho panejo viděla tomu věřte pane.
I just made these for the first time but certainly not the last! They were a big hit at Thanksgiving dinner. I’m not much of a cook but you inspired me to grind my own powdered sugar and get vanilla from a bean! Thanks so much for your patient and clear explanations! Can’t decide which of your recipes to try next. My husband and I both have Bohemian roots so your recipes all taste like home to us. I’m sharing your website with family and friends.
Thank you Barbara for your wonderful comment! It makes me happy to hear that you enjoyed it. 🙂 Thank you for sharing my website. 🙂
Thank you for that wonderful recipe and practical tips in video such as how separate egg yolk from whites, storage boxes ideas and warning of hot baking sheet. I’ve been in Prague a couple years ago in holiday season, and fell in love in x-mas cookies just from one bite. I baked mine with slightly changes though, cause I can’t eat a lot of butter, I reduced from 1 cup of butter to 1/2. And I added more nuts like filbert and almonds. My family likes it very much.
I am happy to hear you enjoyed the video and the recipe. 🙂
Kristyna, I really like your video instructions. Very clear and easy to follow, a natural teacher. This recipe I am very familiar with as my mother was born in the area. This is very similar to our family treasured Christmas cookie ( but with almonds). Basically it’s not Christmas without these cookies. Thank you so much for the tip about the icing sugar containing cornstarch. You are right! I will try your trick because I only want a little sugar to stick. Also I don’t roll the cookies to fast from the oven as the hotter they are the more sugar sticks and the more fragile they are too.
It was nice to hear you talk about the traditions, about the number of different cookies people make and the large percentage that is home-made at the holidays…. because that’s me too! I try to make different types and of course it is a rare store bought cookie that makes it to the Christmas table, maybe shortbread but I am working on that as I have a lot of shortbread recipes to try. Happy baking this Christmas and keep up the wonderful site. Thank you, Sandra
Thank you so much Sandra for such a wonderful and touching message. 🙂 Your words truly honored me and I am so thankful for your kind words. Wishing you happy baking as well and enjoyable peaceful Christmas. 🙂 Would love to see what you bake this year. Feel free to post them on our Facebook fan page. 🙂
My mother baked several different recipes of cookies each day starting after Thanksgiving. There were so many stored in containers in the cellar. (It was my job to take a plate downstairs before dinner and to fill it with a selection of cookies for our dessert, I wonder if my mom knew how many cookies I snitched that didn’t make the plate!). However, my mom did not make the vanilla crescent recipe! That was the only cookie my Babi made that I liked. Now I know why they baked so many cookies, and of course I bake many varieties of cookies and hoska/vanoka. You inspired me to buy a walnut grinder(Jihokov from Fantes) to grind walnuts finely for this recipe and others. Thank you for the hint how to make powder sugar. I will definitely add this recipe to my Christmas baking.
That is such a wonderful story Joanne! Beautiful memories! 🙂 Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Krystina,
Great video! Can you make these cookies without the egg yolk? I once tried a czech walnut cookie at a food festival and I distinctly remember the host saying she made it with just 4 ingredients- flour, butter, sugar and walnuts?
Thanks,
Nan
I don’t think it will work with this recipe unless you add more butter. Egg yolk is keeping it all together. But you can definitely give it a try.
Vanilkové rohlíčky are definitely my most favourite vánoční cukroví but I’ve never tried making them myself until I found your recipe. I usually bake non-Czech cookies since my mother-in-law will be baking the traditional ones. My husband said the taste reminds him of his childhood, just like his babička used to make. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
Aww, that is wonderful! I am glad to hear it brought back wonderful memories.
Thanks for posting. My grandmother’s recipe for almond horns is a little difficult to make so I put off making them every year, but then struggle through making the dough. Your recipe looks better and hopefully they’ll resemble the almond horns my grandmother made. I may substitute ground almonds for the walnuts. If you have an Almond Horn recipe can you post that, please? Thanks. Merry Christmas!
I don’t have almond horn recipe, but you can definitely substitute walnuts for almonds. Some people do. 🙂 I have never tried it.
Moc dobrý,
Vydrželi jen týden musim si udělat další várku. Na trhu nic tak dobrého neni. Suroviny zde nejsou stejné jako v CZ a tak než začnu něco dělat tak si te pro jistotu zkouknu než se do něčeho pustim. Merci
Milan, Montreal
To mám radost ze chutnají. Zdravím do Montrealu.
Great commentary. I have made these every Christmas from my grandmothers Czech recipe. I use almonds and will be trying your recommendation to flavor the icing sugar to get that extra vanilla kick.
I made this with gluten free flour. They turned out amazing!
That is great! Thank you for letting us all know.
When you are making the ‘powder sugar’ can you add the vanilla seeds while you are grinding the sugar?
I don’t see a problem with it. Will probably nicely blend this way.
Hello! How long can you store them, and if you can, in the fridge or in the house? Is plastic wrap okay or do I need a container? Thank you so much for the recipe, my grandmother used to bake these with me and my sister 🙂
Definitely in cold place. I store them in paper box lined with aluminum and covered with paper napkins. I tape it to have it closed nicely. It will last a month and more. Metal tin container works well too.
I love all your recipes! This Christmas I decided to make some Czech Christmas cookies because my boyfriend is Czech and we are separated due to COVID. If I only have pre-ground walnuts how much should I use instead of 1 cup whole nuts?
Thank you ☺️ In this case I would go by weight – 100 grams instead of volume 1 cup.
Do you have a chocolate variation of this recipe?
I don’t and I have never seen Vanilla crescents with chocolate to be honest.
can You use vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean?
Vanilla bean is for powdered sugar. Using extract will definitely not work. You won’t be able to dip crescents in it. If you don’t have vanilla bean just use plain powdered sugar for dipping them.
Is it possible to use this recipe but instead of vanilla use lemon juice for the cookie and ground lemon zest for the powdered sugar coating? I am just wondering if it is possible for variations.
Thank you.
I think that would completely change the flavor. Why not to try my lemon cookies instead? 🙂
Dobry Den,
Love you cookbook and channel. I have a question. Can the dough be frozen?
Thank you.
Richard
Thank you I think it should be fine. Many times we have the dough on the balcony when it freezes.