Vanilla crescent tartlets

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 200 g butter or margarine, soft
• 175 g sugar (depending on desired sweetness)
• 3 packets of vanilla sugar (approx. 20 g)
• 2 eggs
• 315 g flour (maybe more)
• 1 pinch of baking powder
• 150 g almonds, ground
• 1 packet of vanilla pudding powder
• 250 ml milk
• 30 g powdered sugar (depending on desired sweetness)
• 200 g whipped cream
• 2 sheets of gelatin
• 1 packet of cream stiffener (if you don’t want gelatin)
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Mix the butter or margarine, sugar, and vanilla sugar (either with a whisk or dough hook). Stir in the eggs. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture in portions and stir in. Finally, stir in the ground almonds (if you initially used a whisk, you will need to switch to a dough hook at some point when adding the flour; the consistency will be similar to that of shortcrust pastry or vanilla crescents). Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 30-60 minutes; this will make it easier to shape. If you use butter, be careful not to leave the dough in the refrigerator for too long, as otherwise it will become too hard. Shape the dough into 16 evenly spaced crescents, approximately 12 x 10 cm in size (you will need two crescents per tartlet). Place the crescents, leaving some space between them, on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (convection oven) for about 10-15 minutes on the middle rack. For the cream, mix some of the milk with the pudding powder, then bring the remaining milk to a boil with the powdered sugar. Stir in the pudding mix and bring back to a boil briefly. Let the pudding cool. If desired, whip the cream with cream stiffener until stiff. In the meantime, soften the gelatine (if desired) in cold water according to the package instructions. Then squeeze out the excess milk and heat it in a small saucepan until it becomes liquid. Let it cool briefly and mix it with the cream. If you don’t want to use gelatine, simply use less milk for the pudding. The milk will then become firmer and take over the gelatine’s stabilizing function. If necessary, cream stiffener can also be used. Fold the cream into the pudding. The cream pudding may need to cool further in the refrigerator and set. The cream should be stable enough to pipe. Using a cream syringe or piping bag, dot the mixture onto a vanilla crescent. Place another crescent on top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.