German Vanilla Horn Cookies

German Vanilla Horn Cookies

German Vanilla Horn Cookies – Vanillehörnchen, Vanillekipferl

German Vanilla Horn Cookies are called Vanillehörnchen or Vanillekipferl in Germany.

Ingredients for German Vanilla Horn Cookies:

  • 250 g (9 oz) of flour, all-purpose
  • 125 g (4.5 oz) of sugar
  • pinch of baking powder
  • 1 pouch of vanilla sugar OR  teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 125 g (4.5 oz) of almonds, blanched, fine grated  OR almond meal 
  • 3 egg yolks, XL
  • 200 g (7 oz) of butter, soft 

For Finishing:

  • 80 g – 100 g (2.8 oz – 3.5 oz) of caster sugar superfine OR powdered sugar
  • 2 pouches of vanilla sugar

Preparation of German Vanilla Horn Cookies:

Before starting the dough, make sure to have the almonds prepared, in case you can not find the almond meal. Bring a saucepan with water to a boil. Add the almonds for a few seconds. Remove from the stove, place in a colander, and rinse under cold water. Use your fingers to squeeze the almonds out of the skin. Spread on a paper kitchen towel for drying. Use a nut mill to grind the almonds. Find the nut mill here.

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Stift the flour with the baking powder in a bowl. Spread the sugar with vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract) over it. Add the egg yolks to it and stir well with a fork. Spread the butter in slices on top and pour in the almonds. Knead the dough with your hands until it is smooth and does not stick. Should it stick, just have it for about 1/2 hour in the refrigerator.

Use a cookie press with a tip that has a hole with a diameter of about 1.2 cm (0.5 in). Fill the press with the dough and press rolls. Cut those rolls into approximately 2.5 cm – 1 inch pieces.

Making German Vanilla Horn Cookies

Roll each 1″ piece between the palm of your hands to form a horn. Make sure that the ends of the horns become thinner and pointed.

Preheat your oven to 180°C-190°C  (360°F-375°F). Place the vanilla horn cookies on a baking sheet without paper and bake them for about 7-8 minutes on the middle rack.

Baking German Vanilla Horn Cookies

Finishing:

Let the vanilla horn cookies cool down a little bit on the sheet and carefully place them on a cooling rack. After you have finished baking all your vanilla horns, get a large bowl and sift about 80 g -100 g  (2.8 oz – 3.5 oz) of sugar in it with a  fine sieve as I did or use sifted powdered sugar. Add some vanilla extract or 1-2 packages of vanilla sugar and mix well. Next, roll the horns in the sugar. Instead of caster sugar super fine, you also could use powdered sugar, but I personally like the more crisp taste of the granulated sugar. Store in a tin box. Find more of Oma’s German traditional Christmas Cookies recipes here.

Decoration German Vanilla Horn Cookies