Nilla Wafers has a chokehold on the vanilla wafer market. I can’t even tell you another brand that you could buy for Vanilla Wafers. The real question is why aren’t we making these at home!?! Vanilla Wafers are so easy to make, just like the homemade graham crackers.
Disclaimer!
Mixing the cookie batter is simple enough, but you will need a piping bag and a Wilton 2A tip to pipe the wafers. Be warned, this recipe makes 100 wafers!
Do these Vanilla Wafers taste like Nilla Wafers?
No, they don’t taste exactly like the store bought kind. The key difference is that store bought kind includes shortening (not that there's anything wrong with shortening, it just tastes different) and the homemade Vanilla Wafers are made with butter. The result is a richer tasting wafer.
Recipe Notes
The Vanilla Wafer recipe calls for two ingredients to be room temperature: 1 egg and ¼ cup heavy cream. To quickly bring an egg to room temperature, place the egg in a measuring cup and fill with warm (but not too warm) water. Let the egg sit in the water bath for about 5 minutes.
To bring the heavy cream to room temperature, microwave it in 5 second bursts until it reaches the desired temperature.
Special Equipment
- Parchment Paper. Using Parchment paper is usually optional, but since we’re using a cake batter-like dough, the parchment paper will allow you to correct mistakes without upsetting the whole tray of cookies AND they won’t get stuck to the pan. Win. Win.
- Piping bag or gallon size ziploc bag.
- Wilton 2A (or similar) piping tip.
Storing your Vanilla Wafers.
Let’s be honest here, shall we? The wafers aren’t going to make it long enough to store them. They just aren’t. Because once you master these cookies, you’re probably going to make a banana pudding immediately. Or any of these recipes that incorporate vanilla wafers. You might just eat them plain.
If for some reason you have an enormous amount of restraint and don’t live with a mini cookie monster child, like I do, you can store the leftover cookies in a Ziploc bag for up to 2 months.
PrintHomemade Vanilla Wafers
Classic Vanilla Wafers made from scratch.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 100 wafers
- Category: Cookies
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ cups sugar
1 stick of butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream, room temperature
Instructions
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Heat the oven to 350º F
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Prep two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside
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Measure out the flour and set aside.
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In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, butter, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed for a minute, then increase the speed to medium and whisk until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
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In a measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream and the egg. our the egg/cream mixture into the bowl in several additions, giving enough time for the liquid to incorporate before adding more.
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Turn the mixer off and add in the flour. Turn the mixer speed on low and mix until a thick cake-like batter forms.
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Fit a piping bag with a medium plain tip (Wilton 2A or similar) and fill the piping bag with the cookie batter.
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Hold the piping bag perpendicular to the cookie sheet and pipe 1 inch cookies, leaving about ½ inch between each cookie. A full sized baking sheet can hold about 8 rows of 6.
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Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on the cookie sheet.
Keywords: Vanilla Wafers
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