My mom’s traditional holiday cookie recipes (which I will post later in the week) are for chocolate dipped shortbread and classic, very chocolatey chocolate chip. She’s also been making almond crescents for a few years since my dad expressed a desire for the cookies his grandmother used to make during the holidays when he was young. And that’s what the holiday season is all about: good food, and family.
Admitedly, I have never been a fan of the almond crescent. They were always too dry for me, and I’m a chocoholic which made my sugar consumption priority the other two cookie varieties. This year, my mom selected on online recipe from Vanilla Garlic posted on Simply Recipes and these cookies have converted me to an almond crescent fan. My mom made a few slight changes to the recipe (used very finely ground almonds instead of almond flour, and covered the cookies entirely in powdered sugar instead of just dusting) and I am completely addicted. I cannot stop eating them.
I find myself craving them in the middle of the day. When I reach for the plate of cookies, I take one of each of the other two cookies and three or four of the almond crescents. They’re moist, and have fantastic flavor. Bravo, Mom.
Happy Holidays everyone! Be sure to eat your almond crescents!
Almond Crescent Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup of butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of almond extract
- 2 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of almond flour (can substitute ground almonds*)
- 1/4 cup of powdered sugar for sprinkling
*You can use slivered, blanched almonds and grind them up, but you will have a very crumbly, hard to work with dough. It’ll still taste good though.
Method
1 Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the extracts and mix.
2 Add the flour and almond flour. Mix thoroughly.
3 Take generous tablespoons of the dough (it will be slightly crumbly) and roll it into a small ball, about an inch in diameter, and then shape into a crescent shape. Place onto parchment paper and bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until a light golden brown.
4 Dust with powdered sugar.
For added decadence let the cookies cool and dip one end of them into some melted chocolate, then let the chocolate harden.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Tags: Almond, almond extract, crescents, flour, powdered sugar
