Nusskipferl

the little hazelnut crescents of the Austrian Christmas plate: a tender ground-nut shortbread shaped into crescents, baked pale, and rolled while warm in vanilla sugar

Origin: Austria

From the journey of Hazelnut.

The Kipferl, the little crescent, is one of the oldest and most emblematic shapes of Austrian baking, and the nut crescent, the Nusskipferl (close kin to the German and Hungarian Vanillekipferl and to the Kourabiedes of the Greek table), is a fixture of the Christmas Keksteller, the plate of home-made biscuits set out through Advent and over the festival. It is a plain, tender, short biscuit made rich with ground nuts in place of much of the flour, so that it is fragile and melting and deeply flavoured; hazelnut and almond are both traditional, and the toasted hazelnut gives the warmest, most fragrant version. The dough is shaped by hand into small crescents, in memory, tradition says, of the crescent standard of the Ottoman armies turned to a Christian sweet after the siege of Vienna, and the biscuits are baked pale and gold, then rolled while still warm in vanilla-scented icing sugar so that they emerge under a soft white coat. Made in great batches in the weeks before Christmas and stored in tins, the Nusskipferl are shared amongst family and neighbours and are, for many Austrians, the very taste of the festival.

Ingredients

Dough

200 g plain flour
120 g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and finely ground
180 g cold unsalted butter, cubed
80 g caster sugar
1 whole egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

Coating

100 g icing sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar, or the seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Method

Rub or blend the cold butter into the flour, ground hazelnuts, sugar, and salt until it resembles crumbs, then work in the egg yolk and vanilla to a smooth dough. Shape into a disc, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) and line two baking sheets. Break off small pieces of dough, roll each into a short rope about the thickness of a finger, and bend into a little crescent. Set on the sheets, a little apart.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until pale gold and just firm; do not let them brown, or they will taste of scorched nut and lose their delicacy.
Mix the icing sugar with the vanilla sugar. While the crescents are still warm, roll them gently in the vanilla sugar to coat, then set on a rack to cool. Roll again in the sugar once cold for a thicker coat.

Notes

Ground almonds, or a mixture of hazelnuts and almonds, can replace the hazelnuts for a Vanillekipferl; the toasted hazelnut simply gives a deeper flavour. The biscuits keep beautifully for two or three weeks in an airtight tin, which is why they are made early in Advent, and they are traditionally part of a mixed plate of Christmas Kekse. A little grated lemon zest in the dough is a common variation.

The Gastrographer

Name: Nusskipferl
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 40
Cuisine: Austria
Ingredients: 200 g plain flour; 120 g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and finely ground; 180 g cold unsalted butter, cubed; 80 g caster sugar; 1 whole egg yolk; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 pinch salt; 100 g icing sugar; 1 sachet vanilla sugar, or the seeds of 1 vanilla pod

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control