Walnut Crescent Cookies -buttery, delicate, and the perfect way to enhance any Christmas cookie tray! Made with just 5-ingredients and coated in powdered sugar, these quick and easy cookies are the perfect holiday treat!
When I was growing up, my Nana would make batch after batch of different Christmas cookies to package in cookie tins and deliver to friends and family. Don't get me wrong -all of Nana's cookies were amazing, but I looked forward to these walnut crescent cookies the most.
This recipe yields irresistibly tender walnut shortbread cookies coated in powdered sugar. That said, these indulgent cookies are an essential addition to your holiday baking list.
Fun fact: crescent cookies originated in Austria and are also known as "Vanillekipferl." They are a staple item in Austrian, German, Polish, and Swiss bakeries (to name a few). Fortunately, this traditional German recipe will show you how to make crescent cookies that rival any European bakery from the comfort of your home.
These simple walnut crescent cookies are a cherished tradition in my family, and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Let's get baking!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy and ready in minutes! There's minimal prep involved and the cookies bake in 15 minutes.
- You'll only need 5-ingredients plus powdered sugar.
- They stay fresh for about 2 weeks and can be frozen, so they're great for gifting.
- You can easily swap out the walnuts for almonds or hazelnuts (my fave).
Ingredients You'll Need
- Butter (softened): The fat and moisture from softened butter make these cookies soft, tender and rich in flavor.
- Sugar: Aside from sweetening the cookies, sugar also helps the dough spread out into flat moon shapes.
- Vanilla Extract: Crescent cookies showcase the Vanilla flavor, so use high-quality pure vanilla extra here for the best-tasting cookies.
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour: Unbleached flour is flour that ages naturally after milling. It's more off-white and is slightly more nutrient-dense than bleached flour. You can use all-purpose, bleached and unbleached interchangeably in crescent cookies.
- Walnuts: Use a food processor to grind the walnuts into a light and crumbly texture. You can use any nut here. I happen to be a big hazelnut fan!
- Powdered Sugar (sifted for sprinkling): These cookies wouldn't be complete without a generous coating of powdered sugar! It looks like a dusting of snow and makes these cookies rustic and beautiful.
How To Make Walnut Crescent Cookies
There are no special skills or tools required. Here's how to make these fool-proof Christmas cookies:
Step 1: Preheat the oven and prepare a baking sheet.
To start, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Step 2: Beat butter and sugar.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add softened butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Step 3. Combine.
Add vanilla, flour, and ground walnuts to the bowl and beat until thoroughly combined.
Step 4: Shape cookie dough.
Using 2 teaspoons of dough per cookie, form the cookie dough into crescent shapes. Repeat with remaining dough and place each cookie about 1" apart on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Step 5: Bake.
Transfer the baking sheet to your preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes (they should be soft and pale in color when you pull them from the oven, NOT browned).
Step 6: Cool and serve.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- I buy pre-chopped walnuts and then throw them in my food processor to grind into a finer consistency. Make sure the walnuts are ground down thoroughly for the perfect textured cookie.
- The temperature of the butter affects the texture of the cookies, so be sure to use room temperature butter for moist, melt-in-your-mouth cookies.
- To make the moon shapes, roll 2 teaspoons of the dough per cookie into cylinder shapes using the width of your hand, and then gently bend each cylinder into a half-moon.
- Not all ovens bake the same, so keep an eye on your cookies, so they do not overcook.
- These cookies are delicate and will crumble if fussed with too soon. That said, you must let them cool completely to room temperature before dipping them in sugar.
Variations
- Use your favorite nut! Nana would always go with walnuts, and I'm a huge fan of hazelnuts, but feel free to use any nut you like. Almonds, pistachios, pecans and macadamia nuts are great options.
- Add chocolate. I think these would be excellent drizzled or dunked in melted bittersweet chocolate. I should have thought of that sooner!
- Change up the sugar—dust with a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon for some cozy, warming flavor. Brown sugar would also be good here.
- Add festive color! Dust with holiday-themed colors of decorative sugar sprinkles or sanding sugar.
- Feel free to make any shapes you like. Just be sure to keep an eye on them while they're baking, as other shapes and sizes will have different bake times.
Storing
Storing: These cookies are great for gifting as they have an excellent shelf-life. Once the cookies have cooled, you can keep them in a dry, air-tight container at room temperature for up to a week -or in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Can you freeze baked walnut crescent cookies?
These cookies are great to bake in advance and freeze. If you're planning on freezing baked cookies, let them thaw at room temperature before coating them in powdered sugar.
To freeze, let the baked cookies cool completely before freezing solid on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Once the cookies are frozen through, transfer them to a dry airtight container or freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Dust with sugar once thawed.
Recipe FAQ
Yes, the cookie dough is essentially shortbread as it has no eggs, so the raw dough is completely fine to freeze and bake later. You'll want to wrap the dough tightly in a few layers of plastic wrap and then let it sit in the fridge to firm up. Once the dough is sturdy, go ahead and move it to the freezer for up to 3 months—thaw in the fridge before shaping into crescents.
The cookies should still be soft to the touch but no longer damp underneath. The goal is to bake them through without browning them, so if you notice they start to darken, pull them from the oven ASAP.
If your cookies are hard and chewy instead of soft and buttery, you most likely overworked the dough. The longer you fuss with the dough, the tougher your cookies will turn out. Once the dough is mixed thoroughly, leave it be.
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Walnut Crescent Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup ground walnuts hazelnuts are another favorite swap, you can also use almonds, pecans, or pistachios
- sifted powdered sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla, flour and nuts.
- Beat until thoroughly combined.
- Scoop out 2 tsps of dough and form into a crescent shape.
- Repeat with remaining dough, placing about 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 15 minutes, they won't look browned, they should still be light in color when finished.
- Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
- I buy pre-chopped walnuts and then throw them in my food processor to grind into a finer consistency. Make sure the walnuts are ground down thoroughly for the perfect textured cookie.
- The temperature of the butter affects the texture of the cookies, so be sure to use room temperature butter for moist, melt-in-your-mouth cookies.
- To make the moon shapes, roll 2 teaspoons of the dough per cookie into cylinder shapes using the width of your hand, and then gently bend each cylinder into a half-moon.
- Not all ovens bake the same, so keep an eye on your cookies, so they do not overcook.
- These cookies are delicate and will crumble if fussed with too soon. That said, you must let them cool completely to room temperature before dipping them in sugar.
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Emily @ Sinful Nutrition
I love making fudge with my Nana every year. SO good! Thanks for the great giveaway!
Amee Livingston
You bet, Emily! Those memories baking with family are priceless. 🙂
Biz
My MIL makes those cookies too, although these last couple years she hasn't had the strength to spend all day in the kitchen like she used to.
Amee Livingston
Happy Holidays to you, Biz!
Georgette Helton
Chess squares
Amee Livingston
Love those, too! Good choice Georgette!
Clifford Leavitt
My mom passed 5 years ago. She loved making Christmas cookies and these we're one of her favorites. I decided to give them a try. While they were baking, the aroma whisked me back in time. There she was bringing me a plate and a glass of milk. Merry Christmas.
Amee Livingston
Hi Clifford! Thank you so much for sharing this very special memory. Family food traditions hold a special place in my heart, as well. Merry Christmas to you, too!