Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 g)
- 1 cup finely ground blanched almonds (100 g)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (60 g)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed (226 g)
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar, for the vanilla sugar coating (120 g)
- 2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped, for the coating
Instructions
- Make the vanilla sugar first: whisk the 1 cup powdered sugar with the vanilla bean seeds in a shallow dish until evenly speckled, and set it aside to dry a little while you work.
- Whisk the flour, ground almonds, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Rub the cold butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs with a few pea size pieces left.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Press and fold the dough together just until it holds in one mass. It should look shaggy, not smooth.
- Form the dough into a flat disc, wrap it, and chill for 1 hour, until firm but not rock hard.
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Pinch off pieces of dough of about 12 g, a scant tablespoon each. Roll each piece under your palms into a 2 1/2 inch rope with slightly thinner ends, then bend it into a crescent.
- Set the crescents on the sheets 1 inch apart, then chill the filled sheets for 15 minutes so the shapes stay sharp in the oven.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 11 to 13 minutes, until the tips are just golden and the centers still look pale.
- Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, until the cookies are warm and firm enough to lift without breaking.
- Roll each warm crescent gently in the vanilla sugar until well coated, then move to a rack to cool completely.
- Once cold, dust the crescents with a second light coat of vanilla sugar. Store in a tin, layered between sheets of parchment.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 95
- Sodium: 15
- Saturated Fat: 3
- Protein: 1
- Cholesterol: 17