With their delicate almond flavor, crumbly shortbread texture, and sweet powdered sugar coating, almond crescent cookies are a traditional favorite around the holidays, but can (and should!) be enjoyed year round. This is a 1-bowl cookie dough, and the chill time is relatively quick!
If these snowy moon-shaped cookies look familiar to you, it’s because they are such a classic style of cookie, you have no doubt encountered them on more than one occasion!
Buttery, nutty, and coated in confectioners’ sugar, almond crescent cookies are a staple in Italian baking. Made with a few simple ingredients, they’re elegant in their simplicity. While there are countless ways to make them, this recipe reflects how I tested and prepared them. It may not be the most traditional approach, but they check all the crescent cookie boxes!
And we all love them.
Almond Crescent Cookies Recipe Snapshot
- Texture: The texture is similar to snowball cookies, which also do not include any egg or leavening agents. When you bite into one of these cookies, the powdery sweet coating melts in your mouth and gives way to the crumbly, sandy cookie inside.
- Flavor: We’re using vanilla and almond extracts to flavor these buttery cookies.
- Ease: This is a simple, 1-bowl recipe that comes together easily with an electric mixer. Shaping the cookies into crescents is the only slightly tricky step.
- Time: The shaped cookie dough crescents need to chill for 30 minutes before baking (that’s relatively quick for cookies!), and they need to cool completely before you can coat them in the powdered sugar.
Perfect with a steamy mug of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, these are a classic “tea cookie.”
Key Ingredients You Need & Why:
- Butter: Creamed butter forms the base of these shortbread-style cookies.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens these cookies. I find the cookies too dry when using confectioners’ sugar in the dough; in order to keep the cookies from over-spreading, you need enough flour. Confectioners’ sugar in the dough threw off the dry-to-wet-ingredients ratio.
- Vanilla & Almond Extracts: For flavor, especially if using homemade vanilla extract! Don’t skip the almond extract, it’s a flavorful must for these almond crescent cookies, even if you decide to make them with another type of nut.
- Flour: This provides the structure of the cookie.
- Cornstarch: A touch of cornstarch ensures these crumbly cookies don’t become too hard. It’s not a typical ingredient in traditional crescent cookies, but we found it dramatically improves the cookies’ texture.
- Ground Almonds: Start with raw sliced almonds and grind them in a food processor. The ground almonds will be finely chopped, but still gritty.
- Salt: To balance out the sweet.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Their snowy exterior comes from rolling them in powdered sugar after they cool. The cookies themselves are not overly sweet, so it adds a nice touch of sweetness as well.
This is an egg-free baking recipe.
Can I Use Almond Flour?
I strongly recommend grinding up almonds yourself, so you get a coarse and gritty texture..) This way you will really be able to taste the almond. In a pinch, you can use store-bought coarse almond meal, but do not use fine almond flour. Your cookie dough won’t come together very well and the cookies, following the recipe below, will taste dry.
If you don’t have a food processor, chop sliced almonds as finely as possible with a sharp knife.
Expect a Crumbly Dough
The cookie dough comes together in just 1 bowl. It will be super thick, to the point where you don’t think it will come together! Turn your mixer up and watch the buttery goodness form before your eyes.
The dough will come together, I promise:
Use a Tablespoon measuring spoon to portion out the cookie dough, then use your fingers to shape the cookies into crescent shapes. They don’t have to be perfect (and they won’t be!), so just do your best here.
Chill the shaped crescent cookies in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day, to help set their shape, and then bake.
Let the cookies cool completely, then roll each crescent cookie generously in confectioners’ sugar. If you roll them while they’re still warm, the powdered sugar will just melt into the cookies, so make sure they are completely cool before coating them.
3 Success Tips
Almond Crescent Cookie Variations
Almond Crescent Cookies Recipe
Description
With their delicate almond flavor, crumbly shortbread texture, and sweet powdered sugar coating, almond crescent cookies are a traditional favorite around the holidays, but can (and should!) be enjoyed year round. These are a wonderful make-ahead option, as the shaped cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 day.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet or a couple large plates (whatever your refrigerator has room for) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Add the flour, cornstarch, almonds, and salt. Beat on low speed until mostly combined, then turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the dough fully comes together. The dough will be super thick, to the point where you don’t think it will combine. Just keep mixing until it clumps together. If absolutely needed, beat in a couple drops of water to get it to come together.
- Scoop 1 Tablespoon (20g) of cookie dough and shape into a crescent moon. Place on the lined baking sheet/plate, and repeat with remaining cookie dough. (The shaped cookies can be close together in this step, as you’ll separate them on lined baking sheets to bake.) Refrigerate the shaped cookies for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day. If refrigerating for longer than a couple of hours, cover the dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Arrange the chilled cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies until golden brown on the bottom edges and just barely browned on top, 14–16 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Gently roll each crescent cookie in the confectioners’ sugar to coat completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
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