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Danish Vanilla Rings are a traditional Danish Christmas cookie similar to spritz cookies. Crisp, buttery and full of vanilla flavor, they are a must make for Christmas!
Can you believe Christmas is just over a week away? Last weekend was all about Christmas cookie baking for me! The first two batches I enjoyed making, but by the fourth and fifth batch my legs were aching, my back was sore, I basically felt like a 90 year old woman standing in the kitchen.
I’ve come to the conclusion that as much as I love baking, I’m not sure I could do it for a living. I have so much respect for bakers who spend the whole day on their feet in a kitchen that starts out feeling so good on a cold day and then a few hours in you’re about to break out in a sweat and changing into a pair of shorts…that was me on Sunday.
Despite my aching back and sore feet I managed to make four different kinds of cookies last Sunday and one of my favorites were these Danish Vanilla Rings!
The recipe for these Danish Vanilla Rings is one that my mom got a couple of years ago from our Danish relatives living in Denmark. I stuck to the recipe exactly except for adding a little bit of whole wheat pastry flour to replace some of the all purpose flour.
You absolutely don’t have to do that, I just did it because I knew I would eat about ten of them and wanted to feel a little better about it by adding the whole grains, perfectly logical right?
Danish Vanilla Rings are very similar to traditional spritz cookies, with the exception that they have almond meal/flour in them. I loved the addition of the almond meal because it gave the cookies a nice nutty flavor and texture.
There of course is plenty of butter in these cookies, because that’s essentially what they are, a butter cookie. They are crisp, crunchy and perfect for eating with some coffee or tea!
Aside from baking these because it’s Christmas time and I can’t go a year without making them, I also baked a batch earlier this month to share with three other food bloggers as part of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!
This was my second year participating in it, last year I made these Vanilla and Chocolate Pizzelles. After having so much fun giving and receiving cookies last year I knew I wanted to do it again. The purpose of this cookie swap is to help raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.
It’s a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer. So not only is the money going to a good cause, but I get the pleasure of baking and eating lots of cookies, which isn’t a bad thing at all!
Danish Vanilla Rings
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, or more all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste, or seeds scraped out of 2 vanilla beans
- sugar sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
- Add in the egg and vanilla bean seeds or paste and mix until combined, about 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flours, almond meal, baking soda and salt.
- Pour half the dry ingredients in with the butter mixture and beat until almost combined, then add in the remaining dry ingredients and beat again just until combined.
- Place a log of dough into a cookie press with any of the discs that create a whole in the center similar to a wreath.
- Press the dough on to the ungreased baking sheet about 1/4-1/2 inch apart. Top the cookies with sugar sprinkles if desired.
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 6-8 minutes. Remove the baked cookies from the baking sheet onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container, these cookies also freeze well.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How much sugar is creamed with the butter in the Vanilla Rings?
Ahh! Thanks for catching my error Vivi, can you imagine how they would have tasted with no sugar?! I’ve corrected the recipe, there should be 1 cup of sugar creamed with the butter. Sorry about that and happy holidays!
This would make a great gift!
They are great for giving at Christmas, especially because the recipe makes so many!
Haha, I’m just the opposite of you – my back gets sore when I sit around too much!! These cookies look so cute. And yes, I can’t believe Christmas is almost here!! Happy holidays, my friend!
Mine back is just a mess, I’m getting too old. It hurts when I stand too long or sit too long, I can’t win! Happy holidays to you too my friend! :-)
Danae – these Danish Vanilla Rings are simply gorgeous! Such dainty and tasty morsels! Hope your back and feet are better!
Thanks Shashi! My back and feet are doing much better…that is until this weekend when I do it all over again. ;-)
These are gorgeous and they sound so delicious, I want to try them!
NO I can’t believe Christmas is already almost here! Where did all the time go?! I think your cookie swap is such an awesome thing to do! Such a fun and special way to give and help others while you do something you love! -Side note: These cookies look amazing!
Thanks Taylor! It really is a great cause and so much fun giving and receiving cookies. :-)
I love these cookies! I can’t believe that Christmas is only a week away. I haven’t done much holiday baking this year and still need to finish my Christmas shopping. In the meantime, I would love a few of these delectable little cookies.
Thanks Ashley! I was doing good with my cookies and shopping, then we got a huge snow on Tuesday and it left me stranded at home for a couple days. Now I’ll be playing catch up to get everything in the mail by tomorrow!