VIENNA COOKIES RECIPES

Steps:

• Finely chop the 1/2 cup almonds. Sieve egg yolks. Cream butter with egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and salt until very light and fluffy. Stir in chopped almonds, cherries and pineapple. Add flour, mixing to make a soft dough. Chill dough until easy to handle.
• Form the dough into 1 inch balls; place on lightly greased cooky sheet and flatten to 1/2 inch. Lightly press an almond half into each. Bake on a high rack in the oven at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. Yield about 3 dozen cookies.
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• Typically these cookies were topped with an almond half. Heating the whole almonds first makes them easier to split. Place the nuts in a shallow pan in a 300 degree oven for about 5 minutes. As soon as they are cool enough to handle split them into halves with the sharp tip of a small kitchen knife.
• If nuts are not for you, a dusting of confections sugar, or a sliver of cherry also could grace the cookies top. Sometimes we did all 3 just to make an assortment.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, butter, nuts, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, salt, and vanilla. Hand mix until thoroughly blended. Shape dough into a ball. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, place sugar in a bowl or small container. With sharp chef's knife, split vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape out seeds, and mix them into the sugar. Cut pod into 2 inch pieces and mix into sugar.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and form into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball into a small roll, 3 inches long. Place rolls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, and bend each one to make a crescent shape.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set but not brown.
• Let stand 1 minute, then remove from cookie sheets. Place hot cookies on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with prepared sugar mixture. Turn gently to coat on both sides. Cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Just before serving, coat with more vanilla flavored sugar.