Medialunas — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Small, sweet crescent-shaped pastries glazed with a light sugar syrup, softer and sweeter than French croissants. The backbone of every Argentine breakfast and merienda.

Ingredients

500g flour
100g sugar
100g butter, softened
2 eggs
200ml warm milk
10g instant yeast
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
For glaze: 100g sugar, 100ml water, 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1 Dissolve yeast in warm milk and let stand for five minutes until foamy. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add eggs, softened butter, vanilla, and the yeast mixture. Knead for ten minutes until smooth and elastic.
2 Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled in size.
3 Punch down the dough and roll it out into a large rectangle about half a centimeter thick. Cut into long triangles and roll each from the wide end to the point, curving the ends inward to form crescent shapes.
4 Place the shaped medialunas on lined baking sheets, leaving space between them. Cover and let rise for another thirty minutes. Bake at 190C for fifteen to eighteen minutes until golden.
5 While the medialunas bake, prepare the glaze by simmering sugar and water until slightly thickened. Add vanilla. Brush the hot medialunas generously with the glaze as soon as they come out of the oven.

Did You Know?

Argentines consume an estimated six billion medialunas per year. The two main varieties are de manteca (butter, sweeter) and de grasa (versions made with vegetable shortening also exist), with fierce debates about which is superior.