Vanilla crescents with wholemeal spelt flour and hazelnuts

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 100 g butter (room temperature)
• 125 g wholemeal spelt flour
• 50 g hazelnuts
• 40 g vanilla sugar (preferably homemade)
• 20 g brown sugar
• 3 g vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla pod(s)
• 2 pinches of salt
• 2 ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 ½ tsp cocoa powder
• Brown sugar, for caramelizing

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 50 minutes

In a mixer, combine the vanilla sugar and brown sugar until powdered. Set aside half (30 g). This will be used later for dipping the finished croissants. Remove the vanilla seeds from the vanilla pod. This is best done with the back of a knife. Crumble the butter into a bowl, add the other half of the sugar mixture, the flour, nuts, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa powder, and mix everything together. Since the dough is quite soft, it’s best to spread it out with a spoon on foil, wrap it in foil, and refrigerate it for 30-60 minutes. The thinner it is, the faster it will cool. Preheat oven to 190°C (top and bottom heat). Take 1/4 of the dough and knead it slightly. It should be malleable, but not too soft. Roll it into sausages about 1.5 cm thick and then cut into pieces about 6 cm long. To form a croissant, simply take a piece, roll the ends thinner, and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the brown sugar lightly over the croissants. This layer will caramelize during baking. Place in the oven on the middle rack for about 10 minutes. The ends should turn brown and the center should remain light. Let the croissants cool for about 1 minute, then carefully dip them into the (powdered) sugar mixture you set aside. Be careful, the croissants can break easily. Tip: We stopped using store-bought vanilla sugar a long time ago and instead soak the shelled vanilla pods in regular household sugar. They’re simply too good to throw away. This way, the aroma of the shelled pods (from previous baking sessions) is distributed throughout the sugar. Old vanilla pods are replaced with new ones every now and then.