These Almond Crescent Cookies Are Nutty, Buttery Perfection (2024)

Recipes
Desserts
Desserts By Type
Cookies

Made with almond flour, they are buttery and nutty!

Garrett McCord

Garrett has been writing about food and sharing recipes for 15 years. He is the author of Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese.

Learn about Simply Recipes'Editorial Process

Updated November 16, 2023

21 Ratings

Origins of Crescent Cookies

These cookies are traditional Austrian cookies, sometimes called Viennese crescents. They're often given as Christmas gifts. Similar cookies can be found in many culinary traditions. Greek kourabiedes (a.k.a Greek wedding cookies), walnut snowballs, and Mexican wedding cookies are all crumbly, nutty, and rolled in sugar like these almond crescent cookies.

Refrigerating Crescent Cookie Dough

You can refrigerate the crescent cookie dough for up to 24 hours, but bring it to room temperature before forming and baking the cookies.

Can These Crescent Cookies Be Frozen?

These crescent cookies freeze well for up to 1 month. Freeze them in air tight freezer safe zip top bags or in air tight freezer safe containers.

Troubleshooting Crumbly Dough

This dough should be a little crumbly; if it holds together when you press it in your fist, you can use it as it is. If it doesn't, try one or more of these tips.

Make sure you start with room temperature butter.
Mix the dough a little longer using a stand mixer or a hand-held electric mixer.
Add milk or almond milk by the tablespoon until the dough comes together as it should.

5 Tips for Baking Perfect Cookies Every TimeREAD MORE:

Great Swaps and Subs from Readers

Use vegan butter
Add a pinch of cinnamon to the dough
Roll in vanilla sugar
Drizzle with melted chocolate
Substitute 2 tablespoons of the almond flour for roughly chopped almonds
Substitute amaretto liqueur for the almond extract

More Perfect Tea Time Recipes

Lime Icebox Cookies
Chocolate Florentine Cookies
Thumbprint Cookies
Pfeffernüsse Spice Cookies
Pecan Meringue Cookies

From the Editors Of Simply Recipes

Almond Crescent Cookies

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time35 mins

Servings30 servings

You can use slivered, blanched almonds and grind them up in a blender or food processor with a few tablespoons of the flour called for in the recipe, but you will have a very crumbly, hard to work with dough. It’ll still taste good, though.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup almond flour (can substitute ground almonds, see recipe note)
1/4 cup powdered sugar for sprinkling

Method

Preheat the oven:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Beat the butter and sugar and add the extracts:
Beat the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix.
Add the flour:
Add the flour and almond flour. Mix thoroughly.
Form the dough into crescent shapes:
Take generous tablespoons of the dough (it will be slightly crumbly) and roll it into a small ball, about an inch in diameter, and then shape into a crescent shape. Place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake:
Bake at 350°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until a light golden brown.
Dust with powdered sugar:
Dust each cookie with powdered sugar.
Simple Tip!
For added decadence let the cookies cool and dip one end of them into some melted chocolate, then let the chocolate harden.
Did you love the recipe? Leave us some stars and comment below!

Cookies
Christmas Cookies
Almonds

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
135	Calories
8g	Fat
14g	Carbs
2g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 30
Amount per serving
Calories	135
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g	10%
Saturated Fat 4g	20%
Cholesterol 16mg	5%
Sodium 49mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate 14g	5%
Dietary Fiber 1g	3%
Total Sugars 6g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 14mg	1%
Iron 1mg	3%
Potassium 41mg	1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.