Baked Occasions includes a nice selection of Christmas cookies. It seems fitting that one of those cookies is on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule this week, because it's been looking a lot like winter around here -- we got snow here in D.C. yesterday and I had to break out my down coat. Very depressing.
Fortunately, Mae's Crescent Cookies are anything but. These fall in the same genre of cookies as Mexican wedding cakes, Butter Balls, Melt Aways, and other similar buttery cookies rolled in powdered sugar while warm. The recipe is quick and easy: beat butter until smooth and creamy; and add flour, chopped walnuts, granulated sugar, and vanilla. You portion out the dough (I used a #50 scoop and got exactly 24 cookies), form them into crescent shapes, and roll the raw cookies in powdered sugar before baking.
I tested this recipe before Baked Occasions was published, and the exact thing happened to me back then as now: my cookies didn't hold their shape during baking and flattened out into fat blobby shapes. Maybe my butter was too soft. The powdered sugar coating was entirely absorbed during baking, but you add a second layer of powdered sugar shortly after taking the cookies out of the oven; the heat from the warm cookies causes the powdered sugar to melt into a smooth, creamy coating.
The recipe instructs you to serve these cookies warm. They were insanely good while warm -- they really do melt in your mouth. I love the buttery flavor, supertender texture, the crunch from the walnuts, and the lovely sweet sugar coating. I do think it's unrealistic that any Christmas cookie would be served warm. Christmas cookies are often baked in advance and served at parties or packaged up to be given as gifts -- they are not served right after baking. Fortunately, even at room temperature and on day two or day three, these are some really tasty cookies. There's definitely no need to wait for the holidays to bake and enjoy them!
Recipe: "Mae's Crescent Cookies" from Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.
Previous Posts:
Fortunately, Mae's Crescent Cookies are anything but. These fall in the same genre of cookies as Mexican wedding cakes, Butter Balls, Melt Aways, and other similar buttery cookies rolled in powdered sugar while warm. The recipe is quick and easy: beat butter until smooth and creamy; and add flour, chopped walnuts, granulated sugar, and vanilla. You portion out the dough (I used a #50 scoop and got exactly 24 cookies), form them into crescent shapes, and roll the raw cookies in powdered sugar before baking.
The recipe instructs you to serve these cookies warm. They were insanely good while warm -- they really do melt in your mouth. I love the buttery flavor, supertender texture, the crunch from the walnuts, and the lovely sweet sugar coating. I do think it's unrealistic that any Christmas cookie would be served warm. Christmas cookies are often baked in advance and served at parties or packaged up to be given as gifts -- they are not served right after baking. Fortunately, even at room temperature and on day two or day three, these are some really tasty cookies. There's definitely no need to wait for the holidays to bake and enjoy them!
Recipe: "Mae's Crescent Cookies" from Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.
Previous Posts:
- "Winning Isn't Everything: Melt Aways," September 8, 2015.
- "A Silly Name, But Seriously Delicious: Ginger Butter Balls," May 15, 2012.
- "Melt-Your-Resolve Deliciousness: Buttercrunch Melt-Aways," June 20, 2009.
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