How to make vegan vanilla crescents: the best recipe

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Crispy, aromatic and without animal products – the vegan vanilla crescents are an ideal Christmas pastry. But they are also perfect for snacking in between, with coffee or tea and as a gift from the kitchen, for example at Christmas. Delicate shortbread with almonds and vanilla that melts in your mouth – who can resist such delicious cookies?!

Here I show you an easy recipe with few ingredients for the best vanilla crescents without egg and without animal butter. They are very quick to make. You can find a detailed recipe with exact quantities below.

What are vanilla crescents?

Vanilla crescents are a traditional German and Austrian cookie in the shape of a croissant. It is one of the most popular pastries at Christmas. It consists of shortcrust pastry flavored with vanilla and often made with almonds.

Vanilla crescent dough

Vanilla crescent dough is traditionally made of flour, ground almonds, butter and sugar. Vanilla is added to the dough for flavoring. In addition, sometimes egg or egg yolk is added to make the dough easier to shape. After baking, the shortcrust pastry tastes tender and crispy. For vegan dough, replace butter with vegetable margarine. Eggs can be omitted from the dough, because it tastes much better without them.

How to make vegan vanilla crescents: the recipe

For the vegan vanilla crescents you need flour, vegetable margarine, ground almonds, sugar (in the recipe below I used powdered sugar) and vanilla (for example vanilla bean scraped out, vanilla sugar or vanilla extract). I also replaced a small amount of flour with cornstarch to make the pastry taste even more crumbly and tender. And here’s how easy it is to make the dough and bake the cookies:

1. Mix all the ingredients, except margarine, that is flour, sugar, ground almonds and vanilla.
2. Add soft margarine cut into small pieces and knead it into a soft dough.
3. Divide the dough into several pieces, form each piece into a roll and chill for 1 hour.
4. Now cut each roll into slices and shape each slice into a moon shape.
5. Bake the shaped crescents at 180 °C for about 10 minutes, let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Done!

How to shape the vegan Christmas cookies?

If you are making vanilla crescents yourself for the first time, these step-by-step instructions for shaping the pastry may be helpful.

1. Shape the dough into several rolls about Ø 3 cm thick before chilling.
2. Then cut each roll into slices about 1 cm wide.
3. Roll each disk into a small roll with the ends slightly thinner than the middle.
4. Now bend the two ends towards each other so that a moon-shaped figure is formed.

These Christmas cookies

• are vegan,
• are lactose-free,
• are egg-free,
• are without additives, unlike those from the supermarket,
• do not contain too much sugar, or you can adjust the amount of sugar yourself,
• and of course they are very tasty.

Besides they are

• from few ingredients, easy and quick to make,
• ideal for snacking in between, to take away or to serve for a visit for coffee or tea, especially during Advent,
• a perfect homemade Christmas gift from the kitchen, which is also suitable for vegans, passes as a “last minute” gift, and especially guaranteed to please those with a sweet tooth.

How to make the best vanilla crescents: tips & tricks

• For vanilla, you can use vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean, among others.
• To make the cookies taste even more crumbly and tender, I added cornstarch to the dough in addition to flour. You can, of course, replace the cornstarch with the same amount of flour and use only flour in the recipe.
• It is best to use organic margarine.
• A pinch of salt is simply a must for sweet cookies.
• Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet after baking. They are very fragile when they are still hot.
• Butter will also work instead of margarine. In this case the cookies are not vegan.
• Store the cookies sealed in a lunch box at room temperature. They will keep for about a month.

Have you tried these vegan vanilla crescents? Then I look forward to your star rating and your comment below.