Almond Half Moons Recipes

VANILLA HALF-MOONS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Split the half of vanilla bean and scrape the seeds; stir the seeds into the butter mixture. Mix in the flour and ground almonds. Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap and refrigerate until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Break off tablespoonful sized pieces of dough and roll them into little ropes about 2 inches long. Bend the ropes into a half circle and place them 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Scrape the seeds from the remaining vanilla bean and stir them into the confectioners' sugar. Carefully roll warm cookies in the vanilla sugar.

ALMOND HALF-MOONS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter or margarine with an electric mixer on medium high speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar; beat till combined. Beat in the egg and almond extract.
• Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour and the ground nuts with a wooden spoon. Do not chill dough.
• Pack dough into a cookie press fitted with a 1/2 -inch wide round or star tip. Force dough through the cookie press 1-inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets forming crescent shapes.
• Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 6-8 minutes, or till edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Remove cookies from pans and cool on a rack. Sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar.