Almond Crescent Cookies remind me of Christmas – short-bready, nutty, a hint of spice and very moreish!
Baking with leftover Pantry Ingredients
And yes, I had my baking tins full of them over the holidays!
Now that the dust has settled on 2021, I thought it was about time I published a few recipes that I had been stacking up over summer so far.
Crescent cookies appear to be of European origin – there’s the traditional Austrian cookie (Viennese crescents) and a Greek variation (known as kourabiedes). They’re very similar as they use a nut flour and are rolled in sugar, but some include egg and citrus, while others use spice.
The first time I tried them, my sons had came home with a huge bagful, a Croatian recipe. I managed to find the recipe but it had duck fat as one of the ingredients and it sounded a bit complicated! They also were stuffed with a walnut mixture which tasted amazing, but felt a bit fiddly.
I’ve wandered towards the Greek recipe as I the mix was a bit dry so the addition of an egg made the dough perfectly pliable!
These cookies store well in an air-tight container.
So, without further a-do, here’s the recipe!
Almond Crescent Cookies
Makes: approx 40
Ingredients:
- 220g butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 egg
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- orange zest, optional
- 1/4 cup icing sugar, to garnish
- melted chocolate, optional
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare two baking trays, each lined with grease-proof baking paper.
- In a bowl, beat butter, white sugar and extracts together until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well.
- Sift flour into the wet mix, then add almond meal, cinnamon and baking powder. Mix well.
- Form small balls (meat-ball size) in the palms of your hands, roll slightly to form a fat sausage shape, the use your thumb to create a bend in the middle resembling a crescent.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on the bench. Dust with icing sugar to garnish while warm. Alternatively you may wish to dip one end in melted chocolate before dusting with icing sugar.
