These buttery almond crescent cookies have a soft, crumbly shortbread texture and sweet almond flavor. They’re easy to make without any chilling required! After baking, the crescents are coated with powdered sugar for a snowy, Christmas-ready finish.
Add these almond crescent cookies to this season’s Christmas cookie platter with hot chocolate cookies, thumbprint cookies, and gingerbread men cookies.
Almond crescents are moon-shaped Christmas cookies with a buttery texture similar to shortbread cookies, coated with confectioners’ sugar like snowball cookies. They have a delicate almond flavor, and they’re the type of cookie that you can enjoy at the holidays or year-round.
About These Traditional Almond Crescent Cookies
- Buttery shortbread texture. Almond crescent cookies don’t use eggs or leavening. The inside is buttery and sandy underneath the sweet powdered sugar coating.
- No chilling. Unlike similar almond crescent recipes, this one doesn’t require any chilling! The dough goes straight from the bowl to the baking sheet.
- A classic holiday cookie. Almond crescent cookies are a staple in Italian baking, and you’ve likely seen them on Christmas cookie platters before. Shaping the cookies is the longest step, but I’ll show you how easy it is to do.
Ingredient Notes
Here are the ingredients worth mentioning. You’ll find the full, printable recipe for these almond crescent cookies in the recipe card below the post.
- Flour – Measure the flour correctly by spooning the flour into the measuring cup, and then leveling off the top with the back of a knife for a nice, even cup of flour. Don’t scoop directly from the bag, which leads to overmeasuring and crumbly cookies.
- Almond Flour or Whole Almonds– Either one of these will work, see additional notes below for how these effect the texture of the cookie. For whole almonds, I recommend using raw, or roasted unsalted or lightly salted.
- Vanilla and Almond Extract – Like my chewy almond cookies, this shortbread-style recipe uses almond extract to boost the flavor. If you don’t have it, simply leave it out or use more vanilla.
Almond Flour vs. Ground Almonds
This recipe can be made with either almond flour or finely ground almonds. Almond flour produces smoother cookies with a softer inside texture, but with ground almonds, the almond flavor is stronger. The ground almonds will also have a thicker texture, and you’ll notice small brown flecks in the cookies from the almond skins.
How to Make Almond Crescent Cookies
You can expect the dough to be crumbly. Don’t worry, though, it will come together! Do your best when shaping the cookies, and remember, they don’t have to be perfect to be delicious.
- Mix the dry ingredients. First, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and salt in a bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a new bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, then add the vanilla and almond extracts.
- Mix the dough. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until you have a crumbly dough. It should hold together when you press it between your fingers. You can press the dough into one big ball and then portion, or just portion and shape in one step.
- Shape the cookies. Use a medium-size cookie scoop to scoop out 1 ½ tablespoons of dough. Roll the dough into a smooth ball, then into a log, and finally bend the log and pinch the ends to form a crescent moon.
- Bake. Divide the shaped cookies between two lined baking sheets. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in a 350ºF oven for 15 minutes until they’re slightly browned at the edges.
- Coat with sugar. Allow the crescent cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 15-20 minutes. Lastly, generously dust the cookies with powdered sugar and let them cool completely.
Julianne’s Baking Tips
- Make the cookies larger or smaller. Using a different-sized cookie scoop may yield a different number of cookies. I don’t recommend going larger than a medium-sized scoop (1 1/2 tablespoons) as this already creates a large cookie.
- Smooth out the cookies. Pinch and smooth over any cracks in the unbaked cookies before they go into the oven.
- If the dough seems too dry, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time, up to 1 tablespoon total, until it holds together when pressed. However, before adding any milk.
- Use a silicone mat for baking. This helps to prevent the bottom of the cookie from burning.
- How to tell when they’re done baking. Check the tops of the cookie, if it’s glossy at all, it’s not ready. If a gently tap on top causes the cookie to compress, they probably are not done yet.
- Test if the cookies are cool enough. I recommend dusting powdered sugar over one baked cookie to start. If the sugar melts into the cookie, this means they need more time to cool.
Storage Instructions
- Store airtight. Let the cookies cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. They’ll last at room temperature for up to 4 days. Any longer than that, and I find that cookies stored in a plastic container tend to take on a “plastic” flavor.
- Freeze. Store the cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. I recommend doing this before adding the powdered sugar coating. If not, give the cookies a fresh dusting with sugar after thawing.
More Classic Christmas Cookie Recipes
Almond Crescent Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 13-15 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 20 -22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These classic almond crescent cookies have a buttery, crumbly shortbread texture and a sweet, powdered-sugar coating. No chilling needed!
Ingredients
- 2 ⅔ cups (320 grams) all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup (52 grams) almond flour or finely ground almonds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (452g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (143g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure almond extract
- ½ cup (65g) powdered sugar, for coating the cookies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking or cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small or medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour or ground almonds, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until combined in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Mix in the dry ingredients until the dough is crumbly but sticks together when pressed.
- Scoop out about 1 ½ tablespoons (medium-sized cookie scoop) of dough and roll it until smooth with your hands. To shape, roll the dough into a smooth ball, then into a log shape, and then shape into a crescent.
- Place them on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies, one baking sheet at a time, for 15 minutes or until they brown around the edges and have spread slightly.
- Let the cookies rest on the pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Generously coat with powdered sugar.
Notes
- Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. They may start to develop a plastic flavor from the container they are stored in after more than 4 days.
- Almond Flour vs Ground Almonds: This recipe can be made with either Almond flour or finely ground almonds. Almond flour produces smoother cookies with a softer inside texture, but with ground almonds, the almond flavor is stronger. The ground almonds will also have a thicker texture and small brown spots from the skins of the almonds.
- Type of almonds: Raw almonds, roasted unsalted or lightly salted. When I tested with lightly salted, I did not reduce the salt.
- Cookie size: Using a cookie scoop of a different size may yield a different number of cookies. I do not recommend larger than a medium-sized scoop. Adjust the baking time by 2-3 minutes as needed.
- Pinch any cracks in the cookie dough together so they are smooth when they go into the oven.
- If the dough seems too dry, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time (up to 1 tablespoon) to give it a little more moisture.
- If the powdered sugar seems to be melting on the cookie, then they need more time to cool.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 175
- Sugar: 8.3 g
- Sodium: 28 mg
- Fat: 8.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.2 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 22.2 mg
