Czech Christmas wouldn’t be complete without vanilla crescent cookies. They are the first type of Christmas cookies that disappears from the table! In Czech, we call them Vanilkové rohlíčky.
➜ What are Vanilkové rohlíčky
Czech Vanilkove rohlicky crescents belong to the typical Christmas cookies. The base comprises a buttery dough with ground nuts. The pieces of dough are shaped into a crescent shape and baked in the oven. While the crescents are still warm, you need to coat them with vanilla sugar.
Taste vanilla crescents and other classic Christmas treats in Prague during Advent! Prague, with its magical atmosphere, belongs to the best Christmas destinations in Europe.
MY TIP: Try also these Linzer cookies (a must at Czech Christmas!)
➜ Pronunciation
Do you want to know how to pronounce “vanilkové rohlíčky”? I recorded a short audio clip with the Czech pronunciation. Here you go:
➜ Ingredients
To make vanilla crescents, you need:
- All-purpose flour
- Unsalted butter; take the butter out of the fridge about half an hour in advance
- Powdered/icing/confectioners' sugar
- Walnuts; shelled, or pecans
- Egg yolk; the egg yolk will make the dough stick together well, and the crescents will shape nicely
HOMEMADE VANILLA SUGAR:
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla bean
- Airtight container; with a screw cap
✅ You will find the exact ingredient amounts in the recipe card below, which you can also print out.
➜ Instructions with Photos
STEP 1: Grate the walnuts and put them in a bowl.
STEP 2: Add the flour, egg yolk, powdered sugar and butter cut into pieces.
STEP 3: Work into a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill for two hours.
STEP 4: Divide the dough into four pieces, roll each into a strand about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Cut each strand into small, equal-sized pieces.
STEP 5: Roll the pieces of dough into crescent shapes and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
STEP 6: Bake in a preheated oven at 350 °f (180 °C) for 8 minutes.
STEP 7: Roll the crescents while still warm in vanilla sugar.
➜ Homemade vanilla sugar
These Christmas crescent cookies are rolled in icing sugar scented with vanilla.
I make my homemade vanilla sugar by filling a large container with powdered sugar and adding a vanilla bean. After sealing the container with a screw cap, I give it a good shake. In just three days, the sugar becomes wonderfully fragrant and ready to use.
TIP: Keep adding sugar to the container, do not remove the vanilla pod.
➜ Silicone mold for crescents
If you want to make baking easier, get a silicone mold with crescent shapes to press the dough in. You put the mold with the dough to bake, turn out the slightly cooled rolls and roll them in icing/powdered sugar.
➜ Useful Tips
- I grate the walnuts using a manual rotary grinder with a blade for cheese.
- Let the crescents cool for a few minutes after baking. Then remove cookies from the baking sheet and coat them with vanilla sugar while they are still warm.
- Be careful when coating, the rolls are fragile!
GOOD TO KNOW: The vanilla crescent cookies taste best about 2 weeks after baking. During this time, they soften and become tender. Count on it if you are planning to put the cookies on the Christmas table!
➜ Storage
Store the crescents in layers inside a paper box with a lid, lined with foil. Keep the cookies in a cool, dry place such as a balcony, pantry, or the top of the refrigerator.
Read also: Czech Christmas Folk Traditions
More Christmas cookies:
- Vosí hnízda – beehive nests
- Masaryk’s cookies
- Coconut meringue cookies – kokosky
Tried this recipe?
Leave a review down in the comments! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Vanilla Crescent Cookies – Czech Vanilkové rohlíčky
Tap or hover to scale
Ingredients
Vanilla crescent dough:
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter cold
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup walnuts shelled (or pecans)
- 1 egg yolk
For coating:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Grind ½ cup walnuts and put them in a bowl.
- Add 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, 1 stick unsalted butter cut into pieces, ½ cup powdered sugar and 1 egg yolk.
- Using your hands, work the ingredients into a compact dough. Be patient; it takes about five minutes for everything to come together nicely.
- Shape the dough into a cylinder, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for two hours to rest.
- After resting, unwrap the dough from the foil. Knead it briefly to soften, then divide it in half. Roll each half into a long cylinder about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Slice into equal-sized pieces.
- Roll each piece into a strand app. 2 inches (5 cm) long. Gently bend the strands into crescent shapes and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F for 8 minutes.
- Let the crescents cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then roll each one in ¾ cup powdered sugar.
Notes
- I grate the nuts using a manual rotary grinder with a fine shredding blade.
- Let the crescents cool for a few minutes after baking. Then remove cookies from the baking sheet and coat them with vanilla sugar while they are still warm.
- Be careful when coating, the rolls are fragile!
- To make baking easier, get a silicone mold with crescent shapes to press the dough in.
- Czechs usually bake these crescents in the second week of Advent. These crescents are crispy right after baking but will soften in about two weeks—just as Czech Christmas cookies are meant to be!
- Store them in a cool place, stacked in a paper box with a lid, lined with foil.
Louise K. says
Thank you for taking the time to post this. I'm going to try these!
I plan on visiting Prague next year on a tour, and am always interested in the food of places I visit.
Petra Kupská says
Ahoj Louise, thank you for your kind comment! Give these vanilla rolls a try; they are great and easy to make. Prague is a beautiful city, and you will be thrilled, I guarantee! 🙂
Dagmar Berger says
Sounds very tasty. It would be useful to know the temperature of fan oven.
Thanks.
Dasha
Petra Kupská says
Ahoj Dasha, thank you for your kind comment! Regarding your point, I am happy to add that the appropriate temperature for a fan-forced oven is 320 °F (160 °C). The rule of thumb in the Czech Republic (and probably in other countries as well) is that the temperature in a fan oven should be about 10-15 °C lower than when baking in a conventional oven with top and bottom heating. I hope this helps! With warm greetings from Bohemia, Petra
Ann says
I adore these vanilla crescents. My son married a Czech girl and they live in Brno, so much of the Czech cuisines are really good so thank you for the time you have taken to make the recipes available to us all. I want to make these for Christmas this year. However I will do a test run first 😋!!!. Can you tell me roughly how many this recipe will make please. I appreciate it depends how big you make them, I do have the molds.
Elaine says
I fell in love with these cookies when visiting my Czech family in Bohemia (they made all the best recipes for my visit)! You mentioned a mold to help make the crescents all the same size. Where can I buy this/order it (I’m in the US). I have a problem with getting my cookies to be the correct size!!!
Petra Kupská says
No wonder your Czech family baked these vanilla crescents for you 🙂 The rohlicky rolls are one of the classic Czech sweets prepared for Christmas. As for the silicone mold for the vanilla crescents, try this one (link to Amazon.com). Otherwise, it is not a requirement to have one crescent like another, made at home and with love, they taste the best! Krásné Vánoce ????
Peter Vanicek says
Ahoj Petro,
My mother(who is from Podebrady) would make these every Christmas and it is my favorite Christmas cukrovy. Thank you for your website-I love Czech food and can't wait to try out several more recipes.
Vesele vanoce Vam a Vase rodine.
Petra Kupská says
Ahoj Peter, thanks a lot for your lovely comment! Podebrady is a beautiful spa town along the Labe River, I have been there several times, and it is a wonderful place. Otherwise, you're right, these vanilla crescents (vanilkove rohlicky) are one of the Czech classics, and your maminka knew it well 🙂 Krásné Vánoce také Vám!
Melissa says
Ahoj Petra, I am making these for my Czech family, my grandma was born in Brne, is it OK for the dough to be in the fridge overnight?
Petra Kupská says
Ahoj Melissa, the dough can stay in the fridge for up to a week without any problems. Fingers crossed the rohlicky crescents are a hit! 🙂 Merry Christmas and veselé Vánoce!
Melissa says
They were excellent, Petra! A big hit with the family. I ended up substituting ground almonds for walnuts - they were not quite as authentic, but we were able to avoid some nut allergies this way :). Happy new year!
Petra Kupská says
I am so happy to hear this! 🙂 and thank you for your nice feedback. Ground almonds are fine, I also use them when I run out of walnuts, so no stress 🙂 Happy new year to you and your family, too!
TJ says
Tasty dough, but when I baked my cookies, the dough spread out and looked like oblong blobs and were very thin, maybe 4 mm, nothing like the form of the cookies in the picture. I tried putting the cookies back into the fridge for a while before baking but when after they were formed and put on the baking sheet. Any suggestions?
Petra Kupská says
Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry that the rohlicky crescents lost their shape while baking. I double-checked the recipe, quantity of each ingredient, instructions and everything should be fine.
Here are the possible reasons why that happened:
- Often the cause is in the butter. I use European butter, which contains at least 82% fat. Less fatty butter or margarine is less suitable.
- The oven you put the cookies in must be preheated. In this case, to 340 °F (170 °C).
- Always use high gluten flour.
Hope this helps!
TJ says
Your suggestion worked! With the high-fat butter and high-gluten flour, the cookies kept their form while baking. And they were very tasty.
Petra Kupská says
I am very happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know 🙂
David Vize says
I used to live in Vienna and my ex Czech girlfriend used to bake them for Christmas. These taste exactly like hers. And they are delicious. My kids love them! Thanks for posting
Petra Kupská says
Thanks a lot for your comment! I think every Czech girl or woman knows how to bake these rohlíčky rolls. I am glad you and your family like these crescents! 🙂
Juliana Smith says
Hello Petra,
Could you please provide clarification around 'all purpose' flour which is not a term we use in Australia. We have either plain or self-raising flour. A google search gives me no clear answer. I do thank you for your recipes and am familiar with most as both my parents are from the Czech Republic (Prague & beautiful Bechyne). Thank you in advance, Julie
Ana says
My husband is from Prague Im Scottish when his mother came to visit us here in America she brought with all her Czech Christmas cookie recipe but I didn’t speak Czech or read Czech.so my husband made the Christmas cookies.so I was delighted when I found your recipes online, so now I can make my favorite Czech Christmas cookies thank you Petra vesele’ va’noce 🇨🇿🏴
Karel Smolek says
Excellent recipe pro vanilkove rohlicky.Ja je pecu zacatkem prosince.
Petra | Cook Like Czechs says
Thank you! I’m so glad you liked the recipe. Péct začátkem prosince je ideální.
Jindra Tronicek says
In my family vanilkove rohlicky were always made with hazelnuts (filberts). I have tried both walnuts and almonds and they are very good but I promise you, the hazelnuts are worth a try.
Jana says
I looked this up to compare with my mom's recipe and I'm surprised that there's no vanilla extract or vanilla sugar in the ingredients' list.
Petra | Cook Like Czechs says
Hi Jana! I actually add a vanilla bean to the container with powdered sugar and let it sit for about 3 days. The sugar absorbs the fragrance and gives the crescents a nice vanilla flavor when I coat them.
Lo says
Hello! Trying to make the recipe but everything is really dry?!? I am adding another yolk but is something missing?
How about vanilla flavor? I cannot see any in the recipe but yes in the name 😉
Just wondering
Thank you!!!!
Petra | Cook Like Czechs says
Please keep kneading the dough, it feels like dry at the beginning but it comes together after a while. Also, see the video recipe here: https://youtu.be/YVGukYLaX6o?si=sw5j-EVyvRsizE0a - good luck! 🙂
Johanka says
These came out wonderfully! My dad, who was born and raised in Czech Republic, and I made them together. He has an old cookbook, but this year we decided to try your recipe and the proportions were just right.
I added Watkins organic baking vanilla for flavor.
I also had trouble with crumbly dough. My hands hurt due to a medical condition so I have to look for shortcuts, so I put the dough into a warm oven and that softened the butter enough so the dough could come together. Then I refrigerated extra time.
Petra | Cook Like Czechs says
Wow, what a special memory with your dad! I am so glad the recipe worked out, and the organic vanilla must have smelt heavenly. Thanks for sharing your thoughtful adjustments.
I am sure that helped a lot!