Almond Crescent Cookies Recipe
These Almond Crescent Cookies are delicate, buttery treats with a tender crumb and a subtle nutty flavor. Ground almonds are folded into a smooth, mildly sweet dough flavored with vanilla and almond extracts, then shaped into crescent moons and baked until just golden. Finished with a generous dusting of confectioners’ sugar, these cookies are perfect for holiday gatherings or as an elegant everyday snack.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 17 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
Scale
Nut Base
- ⅔ cup (95 g) whole almonds, blanched
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup (42 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (104 g) all-purpose flour
For Dusting
- ½ cup (62.5 g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Pulse almonds into coarse sand. Add the blanched almonds to a food processor and pulse until very finely ground, resembling coarse sand rather than a paste, yielding about ½ cup of ground almonds.
- Beat butter and sugar. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the unsalted butter and ⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Mix in extracts and salt. Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and kosher salt to the creamed butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Add flour gradually. Slowly add the all-purpose flour to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined to avoid overworking the dough.
- Fold in ground almonds. Gently fold the ground almonds into the dough, taking care not to overmix. If the dough seems dry or crumbly, knead lightly with your hands until it holds together.
- Chill the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour to make it easier to shape.
- Preheat oven and prepare baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 325°F (163°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Shape dough into crescents. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie and shape each piece into a 2-inch crescent. Space them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. This recipe makes approximately 17 cookies.
- Bake the cookies. Bake in the preheated oven for 14-16 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly golden but the tops stay pale.
- Cool and roll in sugar. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. While still slightly warm, gently roll each cookie in the ½ cup confectioners’ sugar to coat.
- Dust again after cooling. Once the cookies are completely cooled, dust them with a second layer of confectioners’ sugar before serving for a beautiful snowy finish.
Notes
- Blanching almonds removes the skins for a smoother texture and color; if you buy pre-blanched almonds, you can skip this step.
- Do not overmix the dough after adding flour and almonds to keep the cookies tender.
- Chilling the dough is essential for easy shaping and better cookie texture.
- Cookies are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- For a gluten-free version, substitute all-purpose flour with a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend.
Keywords: almond crescent cookies, buttery cookies, nut cookies, holiday cookies, easy almond cookies, crescent shaped cookies
Find it online: https://kitchenwithkai.com/almond-crescent-cookies-recipe/
