Makes about 90
Note: These crescent-shaped, sugar-dusted cookies are popular in Austria, Hungary and throughout Eastern Europe.
Ingredients:
½ cup granulated or superfine sugar
2 vanilla beans, split in half lengthwise
1 pound unsalted butter, softened
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
2½ cups almond meal
3½ cups all-purpose flour
Powdered sugar, sifted, for coating
Directions:
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
- Place sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add vanilla beans and, using your fingers, rub and scrape the bean with the sugar to exfoliate every bit of vanilla goodness from your pods. (Store the used pods in your favorite spirit or in a container of sugar for future use.)
- Add the butter and salt. Using the mixer, cream butter, sugar and salt together until very light in color and fluffy.
- In a small bowl, stir the almond meal and flour together. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar-butter mixture in three batches, mixing after each addition until almost combined. Finish incorporating the last round by hand; the dough should be homogenous.
- Divide the dough into 10 pieces, about 4 ounces each. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll into an 18-inch log, and cut into 2-inch pieces. Taper the ends of each piece and bend into a crescent shape. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheet(s), leaving at least ¾ of an inch between each cookie. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the crescent tips turn golden brown. While still warm, gently toss them in powdered sugar. When cool, give them a fine dusting of sugar to make them pretty.
— Michelle Polzine, 20th Century Café, San Francisco
