Hazelnut crescents (Vanilkove rohlicky)

These hazelnut crescents have buttery and hazelnut flavours and will literally melt in your mouth. Hazelnuts crescents are a crowd pleaser during the Christmas holidays. These are must for the upcoming holiday season.

Hazelnut crescent cookies

Hazelnut crescents (Vanilkove rohlicky) are a traditional Christmas cookies we make in our family. It’s a simple shortbread cookie dough with addition of hazelnut flour, covered in powdered sugar & vanilla sugar. I am always making a triple batch of these mouth melting Christmas cookies, because they disappear under my hands.

You may also find this recipe for hazelnut crescents in German culture. They cover the cookies in a mixture of icing sugar and cinnamon. Which is also delicious. And you can try to cover half of the batch in cinnamon if you like to.

What ingredients you need for hazelnut crescents

• All-purpose flour
• Hazelnut ground hazelnuts or hazelnut flour
• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Icing / powdered sugar
• Vanilla sugar

How to make the dough

Butter in room temperature – Butter is very important to be in room temperature, so you can easily work with the dough.

Mix the ingredients in stand mixer or food processor – Cut the butter into cubes 1 inch large and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until soft. In a medium bowl of standing mixer, mix together flour, sugar and finely ground hazelnuts or hazelnut flour. Add in the butter and beat with mixer on low speed until dough comes together in a ball.

Chill the dough in the refrigerator – Always chill the dough for at least one hour. You can also chill the dough overnight, it’s even better. The fat (butter) would melt too quickly while baking, if the dough wouldn’t be refrigerated. And the cookies would come out flat. Cover the dough with plastic foil before placing it in the refrigerator.

Make the crescents – Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut in three equal pieces. Then each piece has to be rolled into a cylinder of 1-inch in diameter. Cut 3/4 inch wide pieces and roll out a rope. Curve it into a crescent.

Bake – On a parchment-lined baking sheets, bake the crescents 350 F / 177 C for 10-12 minutes.

Cover in vanilla sugar – The best part is to cover the hot crescents in vanilla sugar. It smells so divine. When the crescents are still hot, but not that hot to handle with hands, cover them in a mixture of icing sugar and vanilla sugar.

How store Christmas cookies

Dry Christmas cookies without any buttercream should be always stored in airtight container & in a cool and dry place. During the winter times it gets cold in Canada, and so we store them in the garage in temperatures in between 4-10 C / 39-50 F.

But the best option is always refrigerator. These hazelnut cookies will last up to 3 weeks if properly stored in the refrigerator. You can also freeze these hazelnut crescents in airtight container for up to 3 months.

More Christmas cookie recipes

• LINZER COOKIES
• WALNUT CRESCENTS WITH CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
• MINI FLORENTINE COOKIES
• COCONUT MACAROONS
• RAFFAELLO COCONUT BALLS

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