Traditional Austrian Vanillekipferl

My great grandfather decided it would be wise to leave Vienna as tensions were rising in mainland Europe at the start of the second world war. He packed up and moved his family to the UK where my grandmother would later meet my grandfather and start her own family. While I grew up in England and feel very British, there's no doubting that there are many Austrian influences that remain within our family.

At Christmas each year, it has become tradition for our family to devour vast quantities of Vanillekipferl, usually after Christmas dinner amongst other goodies, but I seem to find myself popping one or two into my mouth while preparing the turkey. This is my great grandmother's recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation, and I hope will be passed on to many more to come.

If you don't have a food processor, you can chop the almonds and rub them with the butter and flour before kneading in the sugar and yolks to create a dough ball.