Polish Almond Crescent Cookies (Migdałowe Półksiężyce), Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, they’re all delicate, rich nutty bites of shortbread. I found this recipe on the Polish food blog Raspberries and Cream.
The blogger, Ewen, says this recipe makes only two dozen, so go ahead and just plan on making a double batch. I have to agree; they’re rather addictive. They’ll keep in a sealed container for a week or so, but they may not last that long.
Polish Almond Crescent Cookies for Christmas
This is a typical kind of Christmas cookie. On an another blog, I saw a similar recipe dubbed Advent crescents. I love to bake ahead of time for Christmas, freezing cookies, so I can put together trays with a nice assortment of holiday goodies for colleagues, hostess gifts, and for our family on Christmas morning.
For sturdy cookies like peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chip cookies, etc., I just put them in gallon size freezer bags and pop them into the chest freezer in the garage, but with something as fragile as Polish Almond Crescent Cookies (Migdałowe Półksiężyce), I’ll pack them carefully in layers into plastic containers before freezing.
What to do when your cookies aren’t perfect
My delicious cookies turned out differently than expected. They ran and spread more than they should have. While we will still eat them and enjoy them, here are things I’ll do the next time to try to improve the outcome. Let me share them in case someday you need these tips too.
- I will bake one test cookies rather than putting a whole tray with two dozen cookies in the oven.
- I only chilled my dough for 15 minutes. I will give it more time in the fridge (I’ve increased to 30 min in the recipe below, maybe it needs to be an hour
- If chilling doesn’t fix it, I’ll work a little more flour into the dough, increasing the ratio of flour to butter and sugar because butter and sugar are the parts of the mix that make a cookie spread
I’m pretty confident the outcome will improve, but I hope you have perfect results the first time.
Smacznego!
Lois
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Polish Almond Cresent Cookies (Migdałowe Półksiężyce)`
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
A crisp almond shortbread cookie perfect with a cup of tea or a for a Christmas cookie tray
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, soft
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for finishing the cookies
- pinch salt
- 3/4 cups flour
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1/4 cups toasted, chopped almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F
- Combine butter with almond extract and 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Add salt, flour, ground almonds, and toasted chopped almonds
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap or foil, chill 30 minutes
- Shape rounded teaspoons of dough into crescent shapes
- Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, they should still be light, but just beginning to brown
- Cool two minutes before carefully removig from cookie sheet, dust or roll in powdered sugar
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Elizabeth Beaudoin
Thank you Lois for helping me with memories. This was on of our favs when we were growing up. My mom would tell us that the crescent represented the moon over the stable……,probably just family folklore. When I make them, I dip each end in melted chocolate or drizzle with chocolate in memory of my grandfather who took us to the Wedel coffee house in Warsaw in 1971 for the best hot chocolate I have ever had. It was a humid, scorching day and certainly not a day for anything hot but we relished that moment with our kind, gentle grand dad.
polishhousewife
That sounds wonderful, Elizabeth! ❤️
Laurel
These sound scrummy and a great way to use up that jumbo bag of almond flour that I bought.
polishhousewife
Excellent idea, Laurel!
David
They sound really wonderful, Lois – I guess we both have a soft place in our hearts (or on our tastebuds) for almond things!
polishhousewife
Agreed, all things almond! ❤️
Marianna
I was thinking of using almond flour. How would you modify the recipe?
polishhousewife
Hi Marianna, I think I would just use 1 cup of almond flour in place of the ground almonds. Your texture might be a little smoother.
Harley
Years ago I had a thumbprint almond cookie with jam in the centre. Would this batter work for that type cookie?
polishhousewife
I haven’t tried that before, Harley, but there’s only one way to find out.
Ryan
Wow! These turned out so well!! Thanks!!
john twardy
Bigger than i remember next time make smaller crescents.
polishhousewife
Perhaps your mother or grandmother was simply more patient than I am, John. LOL