Vanillekipferl

Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Melt butter and leave to cool
Mix flour, caster sugar, salt, bicarb and vanilla sugar in a bowl
Separate egg yolks
Add cooled butter and egg yolk to dry ingredients and mix
Add nut meal of choice
Roll out gently (it will be crumbly). Adding flour to the bench helps.
If using a cookie cutter, press dough down and cut out your shape (you can use a Christmas tree shape for Christmas).
If making moons, roll a small ball between your hands to form a log and then shape into moons on your baking paper.
Bake for roughly 10 minutes. Don’t overcook or they come out dry.
Once cooled, roll in icing sugar.

The dough is wet. Don’t add more flour! It’s that amount of ‘wetness’ that gives the shortbread the cracked look you are after (that’s where the most icing sugar sits! – wink wink). I added more flour to one batch, and they didn’t have the same look. Don’t be tempted.
I used almond meal and I am told by an inside source (Casey), that it’s the best one to use.
When forming the moons, don’t make them too big as they grow in the oven. I used approx. 1 heaped teaspoon of mixture to get this shape and size. If you are unsure (like I was), cook them in batches and adjust accordingly.
Trust me when I say, you won’t be able to stop at one (or even two or three!).
I had never heard of this before but you can get a packet of Vanilla Sugar at the supermarket (in the baking section). It’s a yellow and red packet (25g) and is called ‘Vanillin Sugar’. Enjoy.