With the little one hankering for more of those Italian almond star cookies, I thought I'd give another type of almond cookie a try. I'd never made almond crescents until now.
The cookie dough is super simple to make. In fact, the recipe I started with seemed almost too easy. It called for 4 ingredients - ground almonds, butter, flour, and some sugar - that you simply mixed together. So I tinkered a bit, adding a pinch of salt, and some vanilla and almond extracts. I also decided to add a little lemon zest to subtly brighten up the flavors. In the spirit of embellishment for the holiday season, I dipped half the crescents in chocolate ganache.
Without any eggs in the recipe, I expected a challenge in shaping the cookies into their crescent shapes. It did turn out to be a little tricky but do-able and not an issue if you're not overly concerned about some cracks at the bends. A great big dusting of powdered sugar would distract you from that imperfection if it's a concern. The most important thing is they turned out really tasty! I'm not sure why I was kind of surprised by how much I liked them.
The texture is nice and sandy. Around the holidays, I embrace these buttery, crispy, sandy-textured cookies and welcome them as cookies I don't eat often enough. They are excellent with a cup of tea or with your mug of hot chocolate.
My son might not have devoured these crescents quite as greedily as he did the almond stars but they were still very appreciated. I really enjoyed the ground almond texture and flavor, with the hint of lemon. I am very thankful for the holidays for the gift of Christmas cookie variety!
