Nut-free vanilla crescent cookies that taste mainly of butter and real vanilla

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Make the dough

   10 min

   Mix the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, and salt. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them along with the egg yolks and cold, cubed butter. Quickly work into a smooth dough without kneading for too long, so the cookies stay tender.

2. Chill

   1 hr

   Roll the dough into logs about 3 cm thick, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

3. Shape the crescents

   20 min

   Preheat the oven to 170 °C (340 °F) and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut 10 g pieces from the logs, roll each into a short rope with tapered ends, and bend into a crescent. Place on the baking sheets about 2 cm apart.

4. Bake

   30 min

   Bake one sheet at a time at 170 °C (340 °F) for 10–12 minutes, until the bottoms and tips are lightly golden. The tops should remain pale.

5. Coat in sugar

   15 min

   Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar. Let the baked crescents rest on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, as they break easily when hot. Carefully coat them in the sugar while still warm, then coat them again once cooled.

Tip: Keep the dough cold throughout. If it softens while shaping, return it to the refrigerator briefly so the cookies hold their shape better in the oven.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Krehké vanilkové rožky bez orechov: chutia hlavne po masle a pravej vanilke