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cookies on a wire rack set on top of a baking sheet

Almond Crescent Cookies

These almond crescent cookies are a delicious treat to make for the holidays or any time of year. They turn out delicious and crumbly every time!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 36
Author Kelsie

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Coating

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional

Instructions

Cookies

  1. Preheat the oven to to 375 degrees.
  2. Combine the butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the chopped almonds and the almond and vanilla extracts.
  3. Sift the flour and salt together into a small bowl. Gradually beat into the butter-sugar mixture until combined.
  4. The dough will be crumbly; use your hands to bring it together into a cohesive mass.
  5. Shape tablespoons of dough into crescents and arrange them on un-greased, unlined baking sheets 2 inches apart.
  6. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden around the bottom edges.
  7. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 1 minute; while they’re cooling, make the coating.

Coating

  1. Stir together the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. (If you don’t want to add the cinnamon just put the powdered sugar in a bowl.)
  2. Carefully roll each crescent in the sugar to coat, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

  • Uneaten cookies can be stored in airtight containers, layered with wax paper, for 4 or 5 days. They can also be frozen that way for about 2 months.
  • Remember to measure your almonds AFTER they’re chopped. You want a full 1/2 cup of chopped almonds, not a 1/2 cup of almonds that you measure and then chop.
  • I don’t recommend using almond flour or almond meal in place of the chopped almonds. The cookies don’t hold together that way. You want the almonds chopped small enough that you don’t have huge chunks of almond in your cookies but not as small as, say, almond flour.
  • To shape the crescents, I rolled balls of dough into a thick log, then pressed the logs around my index finger.
  • The dough is really crumbly so it might crumble while you’re shaping your cookies. That’s totally normal, just squeeze the dough back together and keep shaping your crescents.
  • The cookies don’t spread very much when they bake. However, if your kitchen is really warm, the dough might spread a little more than usual. If the cookies spread more than you want, pop the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
  • To freeze the dough: make the dough and shape the cookies, then place on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet. Freeze for 30 to 60 minutes, until frozen solid. Place in freezer bags and freeze for about a month. Bake your cookies right from the freezer; you might need to add a minute or two to the baking time but with these cookies I usually bake them for the same time as un-frozen dough.
  • See the body of this post for step-by-step photos.