Correspondent writes:

I found your site and I am not a member but I am hoping you can help me. I misplaced my Kipfel recipe from my Aunt Hildegarde who is 89 years old. I am too embarrassed to call and ask for it and my family is eagerly waiting for me to deliver these to them for Christmas. All the internet site recipes are not the simple recipe. I know it has cream cheese, eggs, flour and butter. Other recipes call for yeast, sour cream etc and I know her recipe did not include those items. Can you help me?

Reply: There can be no Austrian or German recipe for Kipfels that uses cream cheese - something not available in Austria. Philadelphia cream cheese is an American product exclusively. It was probably substituted for sour cream at some point and thus became a family recipe. I don't see why you couldn't substitute equal quantities, although a cup might be a bit much. I'd try adding enough to make a pliable dough. The following is from our newsletter no. 94.

The legend is that these were first made by a Viennese baker following the defeat of the Turks after the first siege of Vienna. They were formed in the shape of the Muslim crescent to commemorate the end of the siege. We found it was easier not to form the crescent (tubes break if not done just right) although you can try it. Do not confuse kipfels with vanilla crescents which have no filling, the dough containing crushed almonds. These are easy to form into crescents.


FILLED KIPFELS

Here is our favorite recipe:
Cream:
  • 1/2 lb. butter (can be half shortening)
  • 4 Tbsp. sugar
  • 3 egg yolks-save whites
  • pinch salt
  • rind of 1 Lemon
  • 1 cup sour cream (Try substituting 1/2 cup Phila. Cream cheese and 1/2 cup milk?)
Add:
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
(continued on page 2)
Preparation:

Knead well and chill 20 minutes or longer. Make 4 balls and roll out in half confectioners' sugar and half flour (about 1/8 inch thick). Cut rolled dough into 2.5 inch wide strips. Fill center of each strip (lengthways), roll sides together and seal, cut strips into about 3 inch lengths (size you want kipfel to be). Place on cookie sheet with sealed side down (ends can be open if filling is not too moist, or pinched shut). A nice touch is to brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle lightly with sugar before baking. Traditional way is to dust with powdered sugar before serving. (Do not store with powdered sugar - it will take on moisture and pastry will get soggy). Bake 15 minutes at 350°F or until golden brown.

Nut Filling:

1 lb. (more or less) English walnut meats (or almonds) ground with 2/3 cup sugar (use fine grind). Add enough warm milk to make moist and hold together. Spoon and form filling into center of dough strips using just enough to fill and allow bringing sides together into a tube. Some variations include adding rum or honey to the nut mixture instead of milk.

Marmalade Filling:

Use same dough as above but cut into 2.5 inch squares. Put 1/2 tsp stiff jam (apricot is nice) in center of each square. Pinch 2 opposite corners together, sealing with beaten egg white. Bake in 325°F oven. If jam is too thin, it will run out into sheet and may burn. To thicken, cook jam over a double boiler or make a stiff filling using sugar and cooked dried apricots. You can also fill with "Lekvar" (prune butter).

Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Store in covered tin to keep from drying out. Should be soft inside, firm outside.

Kipfel Variation (added for this issue)

The above recipe makes a small cookie size kipfel. They are small but you can always eat more than one! On an early trip to Austria, I went to an A&O store to buy some picnic supplies and found some large kipfels, about six inches in length with lots of filling. You only had to eat one and they had been made from a raised yeast dough. I never found the recipe for this variation, but I liked the larger size - made a great breakfast pastry. Recently I experimented with the canned biscuits found in the supermarket dairy sections. By flattening them to about 1/4 inch, brushing with melted butter, filling with canned nut or poppy seed mix (Solo or Baker brand), forming into crescents, sprinkling with sugar and baking per container instructions, a very nice large substitute kipfel can be easily made. They resemble the A&O kipfels.