12 Weeks of Christmas Treats ~ Week 5 ~ Italian Almond Crescents

It’s the fifth week of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog hop hosted by Brenda Thompson from MealPlanningMagic.com.  If you’d like to join us, please fill out the form on Brenda’s blog.

Whew!  It’s been a busy week at work and at home.  Glad to able to share this easy cookie recipe with you.  My sister-in-law gave me this recipe and it’s been in my husband’s family forever.  The cookies are similar to Italian Wedding Cookies or Mexican Wedding Cookies.  These cookies contain nuts whereas the my earlier post for Almond Crescents contained almond flavoring.

This recipe is a staple during the Christmas season.  I hope it becomes a staple for your family too.  The cookies are buttery but they aren’t very sweet, so the powdered sugar coating makes the sweetness just right.

Enjoy.

Italian Almond Crescents

Yield:  5 dozen cookies                  Cook Time:  15 – 17 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pound (2 cups) blanched slivered or sliced almonds, then finely chopped
• 1 pound of butter, softened
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl and set aside.

Step 2:  Mix flour, corn starch, sugar and almonds in a large bowl.

Step 3:  Using a fork or spatula mix the butter and vanilla into the flour mix until just combined.  Form crescents with about a tablespoon of dough.  Place on lined cookie sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart.  The cookies will spread a bit.

Step 4:  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 17 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden.  Let cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet.  If you remove the cookies from the cookie sheet too soon the cookies may break as they are fragile when they’re warm.

Step 5:  After the cookies have cooled, dredge each one in the bowl of powdered sugar.  Be sure there’s a nice thick coating of powdered sugar on the cookies.

Tips:  Do not bake cookies too long.

Storing:  Store cookies in a sealed plastic container.  The cookies are fine for several days when stored this way.

Enjoy!!!

Barely adapted from my husband’s family recipe.

Have a look at the other great cookies in the blog hop by clicking on the Linky Tools link below.  Sorry my blog doesn’t support the blog hop participant icons directly.

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Blog Hop

Week 5, October 25, 2012

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