Baking - Lefse and Vanille Kipferl

Blog post 4: Vanille Kipferl and Lefse

Vanille Kipferl:

Vanille Kipferl are moon shaped biscuits made from “Mürbeteig” (no: ‘mørdeig)
which translates to many different words in English: shortcrust pastry or short pastry in the UK and pie crust or pie dough in the USA. They’re topped with powdered sugar and vanilla sugar to give them their typical taste.
This Mürbeteig is made without eggs and milk, which makes them perfect for vegans or people with allergies. I chose to make mine with a margarine that contains milk, but you can easily use a milk-free variant.
The origin of the cookie is not entirely clear. It’s rumored to have started existing in Vienna and be related to the croissant. Their moon shapes are often linked to the Turkish occupation of Austria. (Biscuit People, 2020)
They’re traditionally enjoyed in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary. (Biscuit People, 2020)

Recipe:

Cookie:

250gr of all purpose flour

210gr of butter or margarine

100gr ground almonds

16gr of Vanilla sugar

~80gr sugar (to taste)

Topping:

16gr Vanilla sugar

powdered sugar


1. Mix all ingredients for the cookie together, the order does not matter.

2. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 30-60min.

3. In the meantime prepare the topping mix by combining the vanilla sugar and powdered sugar. The exact measurement of the powdered sugar does not exist, measure it with your heart (and it’s health in mind). Keep this mix in a large shallow bowl or a soup plate.

4. Take out at least 1 oven tray and put baking paper on it. Preheat the oven to 175°C.

5. When the dough is cooled, roll it out into a big sausage shape of about 4cm in diameter. Cut it into 1-2cm wide slices.

6. Roll these slices into moon shapes between your fingers and place them on the oven tray not too close to each other or they will stick.

7. Bake for about 10-15min, when they start to get slightly browned. (see picture for color)

8. Let them cool a bit (about 3min).

9. Put them into the sugar bowl and flip around. If they are too hot they will fall apart, if they’re too cold the sugar won’t stick.






In a metal container the cookies are good for 6 weeks. I didn’t find one at the store, so they’re kept in a plastic container. This might impact its texture a bit, but because they are a bit soft to begin with they shouldn’t suffer as much as a standard hard cookie.

Lefse

Lefse is a Norwegian flatbread that dates back to the time of the Vikings. The original recipes (like the one I use here) did not contain potatoes, but many today do. The version I am referring to was used to preserve flour throughout the winter. It’s cooked into the texture of a cracker or flatbread (Lefse Time, n.d) . It is safe to consume for about a month without refrigeration. (K. Ryslett, personal communication, 10. November 2025) To eat it you dip it in water and soak it between damp cloth until it softens. It was usually enjoyed with butter. (Lefse Time, n.d)

It’s cooked on a griddle and flipped with a special stick. You also use a special kind of rolling pin (“corrugated”) to achieve the paper thin dough without air pockets. If you don’t have access to one, users online report using standard rolling pins as well. (Lefse Time, n.d) Lefse is rolled out on a heavy cotton cloth to avoid it from sticking. I could not use one when I made mine for the assignment because they were locked in a room I have no access to.

Recipe for 40 lefse:

Lefse:

1 liter of cultured milk (room temperature)

1 liter whole milk (room temperature)

2.5 table spoons of hjortesalt

2.3 kg of wheat flour


flour mixture:

⅔ sifted wheat flour

⅓ semolina




1. Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer. The dough is done when it is soft and slightly wet.

2. Divide the dough into balls of 100gr each and put them on a baking tray to cover with plastic. You should have about 40 with this recipe. Sprinkle the tray with flour before adding the balls of dough and add some on top to avoid them sticking too much.

3. You need the flour mixture to roll out your lefse. Use plenty while rolling.

4. Roll the lefse out on a cloth using a corrugated rolling pin. Make it as thin as you possibly can. Use the stick to flip it from one side to the other to continue rolling and to test if it sticks to the cloth.

5. Brush off excess flour before putting it on the griddle.

6. Heat the griddle to a relatively high temperature and keep the lefse on it until some brown spots form. Similar to moles on light colored skin. Grill it on both sides.


7. Cool and cut up to store.




I experienced some issues with mine because I used dough that was made 3 days before I shaped and grilled them, which means the dough had gotten quite tough to work with and is slightly thicker than I would have wanted.

Sources:

Biscuit People. (2020, October 31). Vanillekipferl: The Austrian Crescent-shaped Biscuits. Retrieved November 16, 2025, from https://www.biscuitpeople.com/magazine/post/Vanillekipferl-The-Austrian-Crescent-shaped-Biscuits

Lefse Time. (n.d.). “do you have to use a corrugated rolling pin to make Lefse?” Retrieved November 16, 2025, from https://www.lefsetime.com/lefse-faqs/

Lefse Time. (n.d.). Lefse History, Potato Lefse, Norwegian Bread - Lefse Time. Retrieved November 16, 2025, from https://www.lefsetime.com/lefse-history/

Thomsen, Z. (November 12th 2025), Vanille Kipferl. [unpublished source, family recipe].