Last night was the first lunar eclipse to fall on the winter solstice since 1638. Pretty cool right? I got all psyched up to witness this wonder of my generation only to find it was raining! Drat! No moon gazing for me. So to make myself feel better I tried my hand at some crescent moon cookies. I used a Martha Stewart recipe which I think was pretty good. I might add more sugar if I made this again though. Mostly my problem came when I was shaping the cookies, they're kind of tiny and pale even after you bake them and with the wrong dimensions they tend to look kind of like... insects. I'll go with insects (it's the least gross option) . Tasty though they may be, nobody wants to eat a plate of bugs. Unless of course you're klingon. They might be cool with these.
Almond Crescent (Moon) Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
2/3 c. Sifted confectioners' sugar, plus more for rolling
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. Almond extract
1 c. Coarsely chopped almonds (whatever texture strikes your fancy)
2 1/3 c. Sifted all-purpose flour
Preheat your oven to 350 and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cream together softened butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and almond extracts, then add the almonds. With a spoon stir in flour and beat until well mixed. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log 1 inch in diameter. (this step kind of bugged me, I just laid out a sheet of plastic wrap, dumped my cookie dough on it, then squished it all together into a disk like pie dough. Then I pinched pieced off as I went along)
Cut each log into 2-inch pieces, and roll each piece into a cylinder. Place cylinders 1 to 2 inches apart on baking sheets, and form into crescents (try and keep em a little fatter in the middle and pinch the ends so that they're sharp. Make them seem less "buggy") Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let crescents cool, then roll in additional sugar. Makes 5 dozen crescents depending on your size
yummie!!!
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