Old-fashioned almond crescent cookies are a cross between shortbread and snowball cookies. They are so simple to make (no chilling!) and are entirely egg-free! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Old-Fashioned Almond Cookies
I first shared these almond crescent cookies a few years ago in my holiday cookie eBook. They are just simple, old-fashioned cookies, but my family requests I make them every year for Christmas. I can’t say I blame them–they are one of my favorites too!
These cookies are similar to shortbread cookies or snowball cookies, but shaped differently. They have a soft almond and vanilla flavor with a melt-in-your-mouth, yet perfectly crisp texture. A coating of powdered sugar and adorable crescent moon shape make them eye-catching and just too cute.
What to Know About My Recipe
- No chilling! As long as your butter and kitchen aren’t too warm, you will be able to roll and bake the dough right away.
- Perfected texture. Delicate, tender/crumbly, and melt in your mouth with a crisp exterior. They are more like shortbread than sugar cookies.
- No eggs! These cookies are naturally egg-free, just like my Russian tea cakes and linzer cookies. I have a whole collection of eggless dessert recipes, if you need them.
- Powdered sugar coating that LASTS. Tossing the cookies in sugar twice helps the cookies maintain a thick powdered sugar exterior.
- Nostalgic. Chances are, someone in your family made these during the holiday season. Now you can carry on the tradition 😊
Jump to:
Ingredients
Only 8 ingredients needed today–and no eggs! Here’s a brief overview of what you need.
- Almond flour. Just like what you’d use in French macarons! I recommend using blanched almond flour (meaning the almond skins are removed), otherwise you’ll have brown speckles throughout your cookies. If you’d like, you can even finely ground your own blanched almonds instead, but you’ll need to be careful not to grind them too much or you’ll end up with almond butter.
- Powdered sugar. We’ll use this for rolling our cookies after baking, and we’ll also add it to the dough for sweetness. Powdered sugar contains a bit of cornstarch, which encourages our cookies to have a tender texture and helps them hold their shape too.
- Almond extract. This is technically optional (we are adding vanilla too!), but I highly recommend adding it. These are almond crescent cookies, after all!
- Butter. Your butter shouldn’t be super warm or melty; in fact, the center should be a little cool still. If your butter is too warm, you will run into issues and may need to chill your dough.
- Brown sugar. While we’ll mostly use powdered sugar to sweeten our cookies, a bit of light brown sugar adds depth and sweetness to the dough too. I don’t recommend using dark brown sugar here.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
SAM’S TIP: Be careful when measuring your almond extract! It can be very potent, and you don’t want to accidentally add too much.
How to Make Almond Crescent Cookies
- Step 1: Make the dough. Make sure the butter and sugars are very well creamed, because once you add the dry ingredients, you need to be careful not to over-mix the dough. This is a dry and crumbly dough by design, but you do want to make sure you don’t have any dry floury pockets before scooping.
- Step 2: Shape & bake. Roll 1 tablespoon scoops of dough into ropes, then form into crescent shapes with thicker centers and thinner ends. Note: If your cookies are cracking while you’re trying to roll them, you may not have mixed your dough enough. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until just starting to turn light golden brown.
- Step 3: Coat in sugar. The trick here is to let the cookies cool for 10-15 minutes before you dip them in sugar…then you dip them AGAIN after they’ve cooled completely. This gives you a thicker sugar coating that is just so pretty!
SAM’S TIP: If your dough is too sticky to work with, your butter or your kitchen may be just a bit too warm. To fix this, cover and chill the dough for about 30 minutes before trying to roll again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Italians, Austrians, and Germans all have their own versions of this recipe. I have seen a few different names for these cookies including Mezzalune, Ricciarelli, Viennese Crescents, and Vanillekipferl.
First, let the cookies cool for 10-15 minutes before you roll them in the sugar; if you roll them right away, the sugar will just melt right off. I also recommend double coating your cookies–add the second coating of sugar after the cookies have completely cooled.
Humidity will likely make some of the sugar melt off after a few days regardless, but my tips will help it stay on longer than usual.
More Old-Fashioned Christmas Recipes
If you like almond flavored desserts, give my Italian cream cake or pistachio cake a try next!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
Almond Crescent Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened (but not melty)
- ½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 2 ⅓ cups (290 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cups (80 g) almond flour
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- (125 g) Additional powdered sugar for dusting cookies (I usually need around 1 cup)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy and smooth.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Add powdered sugar and brown sugar and beat again until well-creamed, about 2-3 minutes on high speed.½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- Stir in vanilla extract and almond extract (if using) until combined.1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, almond flour, and salt.2 ⅓ cups (290 g) all-purpose flour, ¾ cups (80 g) almond flour, ½ teaspoon table salt
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture (I usually do this in 4-5 parts). Don’t overdo it and mix just until all the flour is absorbed and dough is clinging together, it is a dry dough but should be.
- Scoop dough into 1-Tablespoon (15g) portions and roll into a 3” (7.5cm) rope.
- Fold into a crescent shape, making the ends thinner than the center, and place on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” (5cm) apart.
- Transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes/until edges are beginning to turn a light golden brown.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then carefully, gently toss in powdered sugar, one at a time. For a thicker coating, allow cookies to cool completely and then toss them in sugar a second time. Enjoy!(125 g) Additional powdered sugar
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Jackie
THESE COOKIES WERE DELITIOUS! Made them as written, very delicate. do you think you could sub 3/4 Cup of ground almonds as I don’t always have almond flour on hand? They were very good though just as written. Thanks for a good almond cookie recipe. Jackie
Sam Merritt
Hi Jackie! I am so glad you enjoyed these! Thank you for trying my recipe. You can substitute finely ground almonds for the almond flour. 🙂
Karen
Can these be frozen? I want to make ahead of time for Christmas. Would I freeze before putting powdered sugar on?
Sam Merritt
Hi Karen! I would wait to dust them in powdered sugar until after thawing. 🙂
Mickey Stock
Almond Crescents have a staple Christmas cookie in my family for years. My new daughter-in-law can’t have gluten. Do you think I could make this with gluten free flour? Or maybe all almond flour? Any other suggestions for Christmas treats without gluten?
Sam Merritt
Hi Mickey! I haven’t personally tried it, but many others have reported using a 1:1 gluten free flour substitute with many different cookies with great success. I hope you love it! Let me know how it goes if you do try it. 🙂
Mickey Stock
I made them today. I think they taste great, but a bit different than normal and they are definitely more delicate. I also made them in small round balls (like Russian Tea Cakes) and the weird thing is some held their shape and others flattened right out while still others were somewhere in between. Each cookie sheet had a mix of shapes. Maybe next time I’ll try chilling them. I’m sure my daughter-in-law will love them. My daughter on the other hand wants me to go back to the “normal” recipe. 🙂
Sam Merritt
Hi Mickey! I’m so sorry to hear this happened! I wonder if the dough potentially needed be better mixed, especially if you were getting different results all over the pan. 🙁
Shirley Rowntree
Can’t wait to try this recipe! But is powdered sugar the same as icing sugar?
Sam Merritt
Hi Shirley! They are the same thing. Enjoy! 🙂
Soleena Wilson
do I have to use almond flour or could I use all regular all purpose or self rising flour?
Sam Merritt
Hi Soleena! If you are looking for something a little different you can use my snowball cookie recipe, which is similar without the almond flour. 🙂
wendy
Can this almond crescent recipe be made using almond flour only….I cant have the flour
Sam Merritt
Hi Wendy! I’m not sure how they would turn out with almond flour. 🙁
Rudolph Loendorf
can you add a 1 half cup of chopped pecans to the recipe?
Sam Merritt
Hi Rudolph! I haven’t personally tried it. I think it could work, just note that nuts make for a little drier dough and it may be a little tougher to work with. 🙂
Jeannie
Hi, can the butter be substituted for vegan butter? My son is vegan and this cookie will remind him of the same crescent shaped cookies his grandma, my mom, made during Christmas. She is no longer with us and we could not find her recipe but yours is similar in so many ways. Thank you for submitting it ❤️
Sam Merritt
Hi Jeannie! While I haven’t personally tried this, I do think it would work with vegan butter. If the dough is seeming too soft/difficult to work with, I would add an extra Tablespoon of flour at a time as needed until you have the proper consistency. I will say honestly sometimes you lose a bit of the flavor from the butter, but if it’s a nicely flavored vegan butter that shouldn’t be a problem.