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Old style almond crescent cookies are a cross between shortbread and snowball cookies. They’re so easy to make (no chilling!) and are solely egg-free! Recipe features a how-to video!
Previous-Customary Almond Cookies
I first shared these almond crescent cookies a number of years in the past in my vacation cookie eBook. They’re simply easy, old style cookies, however my household requests I make them yearly for Christmas. I can’t say I blame them–they’re one among my favorites too!
These cookies are much like shortbread cookies or snowball cookies, however formed otherwise. They’ve a smooth almond and vanilla taste with a melt-in-your-mouth, but completely crisp texture. A coating of powdered sugar and lovely crescent moon form make them eye-catching and simply too cute.
What to Know About My Recipe
- No chilling! So long as your butter and kitchen aren’t too heat, it is possible for you to to roll and bake the dough immediately.
- Perfected texture. Delicate, tender/crumbly, and soften in your mouth with a crisp exterior. They’re extra like shortbread than sugar cookies.
- No eggs! These cookies are naturally egg-free, similar to my Russian tea muffins and linzer cookies. I’ve an entire assortment of eggless dessert recipes, if you happen to want them.
- Powdered sugar coating that LASTS. Tossing the cookies in sugar twice helps the cookies keep a thick powdered sugar exterior.
- Nostalgic. Likelihood is, somebody in your loved ones made these through the vacation season. Now you’ll be able to keep it up the custom 😊
Elements
Solely 8 substances wanted immediately–and no eggs! Right here’s a quick overview of what you want.
- Almond flour. Identical to what you’d use in French macarons! I like to recommend utilizing blanched almond flour (which means the almond skins are eliminated), in any other case you’ll have brown speckles all through your cookies. If you happen to’d like, you’ll be able to even finely floor your individual blanched almonds as a substitute, however you’ll must be cautious to not grind them an excessive amount of otherwise you’ll find yourself with almond butter.
- Powdered sugar. We’ll use this for rolling our cookies after baking, and we’ll additionally add it to the dough for sweetness. Powdered sugar accommodates a little bit of cornstarch, which inspires our cookies to have a young texture and helps them maintain their form too.
- Almond extract. That is technically elective (we’re including vanilla too!), however I extremely advocate including it. These are almond crescent cookies, in spite of everything!
- Butter. Your butter shouldn’t be tremendous heat or melty; the truth is, the middle must be a little bit cool nonetheless. In case your butter is just too heat, you’ll run into points and might have to sit back your dough.
- Brown sugar. Whereas we’ll largely use powdered sugar to sweeten our cookies, a bit of sunshine brown sugar provides depth and sweetness to the dough too. I don’t advocate utilizing darkish brown sugar right here.
Keep in mind, that is simply an summary of the substances I used and why. For the total recipe please scroll right down to the underside of the submit!
SAM’S TIP: Watch out when measuring your almond extract! It may be very potent, and also you don’t wish to by accident add an excessive amount of.
The right way to Make Almond Crescent Cookies
- Step 1: Make the dough. Ensure the butter and sugars are very effectively creamed, as a result of when you add the dry substances, that you must watch out to not over-mix the dough. This can be a dry and crumbly dough by design, however you do wish to ensure you don’t have any dry floury pockets earlier than scooping.
- Step 2: Form & bake. Roll 1 tablespoon scoops of dough into ropes, then kind into crescent shapes with thicker facilities and thinner ends. Be aware: In case your cookies are cracking whilst you’re attempting to roll them, you might not have blended your dough sufficient. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or till simply beginning to flip mild golden brown.
- Step 3: Coat in sugar. The trick right here is to let the cookies cool for 10-Quarter-hour earlier than you dip them in sugar…you then dip them AGAIN after they’ve cooled utterly. This offers you a thicker sugar coating that’s simply so fairly!
SAM’S TIP: In case your dough is just too sticky to work with, your butter or your kitchen could also be only a bit too heat. To repair this, cowl and chill the dough for about half-hour earlier than attempting to roll once more.
Continuously Requested Questions
Italians, Austrians, and Germans all have their very own variations of this recipe. I’ve seen a number of completely different names for these cookies together with Mezzalune, Ricciarelli, Viennese Crescents, and Vanillekipferl.
First, let the cookies cool for 10-Quarter-hour earlier than you roll them within the sugar; if you happen to roll them immediately, the sugar will simply soften proper off. I additionally advocate double coating your cookies–add the second coating of sugar after the cookies have utterly cooled.
Humidity will seemingly make a few of the sugar soften off after a number of days regardless, however my ideas will assist it keep on longer than common.
Extra Previous-Customary Christmas Recipes
If you like almond flavored desserts, give my Italian cream cake or pistachio cake a try next!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
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Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy and smooth.
1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
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Add powdered sugar and brown sugar and beat again until well-creamed, about 2-3 minutes on high speed.
½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
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Stir in vanilla extract and almond extract (if using) until combined.
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract
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In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, almond flour, and salt.
2 ⅓ cups (290 g) all-purpose flour, ¾ cups (80 g) almond flour, ½ teaspoon table salt
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With mixer on low-speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture (I usually do this in 4-5 parts). Don’t overdo it and mix just until all the flour is absorbed and dough is clinging together, it is a dry dough but should be.
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Scoop dough into 1-Tablespoon (15g) portions and roll into a 3” (7.5cm) rope.
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Fold into a crescent shape, making the ends thinner than the center, and place on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” (5cm) apart.
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Transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes/until edges are beginning to turn a light golden brown.
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Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then carefully, gently toss in powdered sugar, one at a time. For a thicker coating, allow cookies to cool completely and then toss them in sugar a second time. Enjoy!
(125 g) Additional powdered sugar
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 34mg | Potassium: 13mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 158IU | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
