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Hazelnut Crescent Christmas cookies are a delicate holiday cookie made with unbleached flour, ground hazelnuts, butter, vanilla and sugar.
These Hazelnut Crescent Christmas cookies are one of my absolute favorite holiday cookie recipes. My Nana made these every year, but she would often use walnuts. You can use any nut you love, I happen to be a big hazelnut fan. I'm thinking that these would be amazing drizzled in melted bittersweet chocolate. I should have thought of that sooner!
Tins of Christmas Cookies Are Gifts of Love
I really miss getting my Nana's cookie tins. She's 95 and doesn't cook or bake anymore, but I'm very grateful that we still have her in our lives. She's an amazing lady. She'll tell you that she owes her longevity to Jack LaLanne and all the exercise she did over the years. Keep moving, ya'll, it's the fountain of youth!
Every Christmas, when I was growing up, she would make a huge variety of cookies and package them up, beautifully arranged, in a cookie tin. That tin was such a special delivery every year. We would wait in anticipation for those treats.
This old German Christmas cookie recipe was one of Nana's yearly staples and has remained a holiday classic. There are only a few ingredients and they are really simple to make. It's basically a shortbread with nuts and powdered sugar. Not to mention, they're really beautiful. The powdered sugar always made me long for snow.
Hazelnuts can be challenging to find in grocery stores before the holiday season begins. I buy the ones that are pre-chopped and then grind them to a finer texture. This is the perfect chop for these cookies...
These simple, delicate hazelnut crescent Christmas cookies that have been a special part of my family's Christmas tradition.
I hope that you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!
Easy Hazelnut Crescent Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup ground hazelnuts
- 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.
Nutrition
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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!