Danish butter cookies
Vaniljekranse are very popular Danish butter cookies made with plenty of vanilla. They are simple buttery ring-shaped biscuits with a hole in the centre, piped directly onto a baking tray from a piping bag, chilled and then baked. Besides the basic ingredients you probably already have at home, the flavour is enriched with ground almonds. They are similar to the German Spritzgebäck and definitely worth adding to your Christmas baking list.
Note: Like other shortbread-style cookies, they must be well chilled before baking and the oven should be fully preheated so the biscuits keep their shape.
Makes about 30 cookies.
Ingredients for Danish butter cookies:
- 250 g butter
- 150 g icing sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 325 g plain flour
- 75 g ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Place the butter, icing sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla, plain flour, ground almonds and baking powder, then mix until the dough comes together.
Prepare a sturdy piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (for example Wilton 1M). Fill the bag with the dough and pipe rings about 7 cm in diameter onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (the cookies will spread slightly during baking). Refrigerate the tray with the piped cookies for about 60 minutes.
Bake in an oven preheated to 200°C for about 8 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Store the Danish vanilla cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Enjoy!
Adapted from “Scandikitchen: Fika & Hygge” Brontë Aurell.