Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

Sometimes you don't :) You'll never hear me say that I'm craving nuts, as I dislike most types of nuts. If you pay attention, you'll see that I omit the nuts from almost every recipe in my blog. I do, however, enjoy ground nuts in baked goods and nut-flavored concoctions like Nutella :)


I recently stumbled across Elise's food blog, Simply Recipes. She has beautiful photos, and a great variety of both savory and sweet recipes. If you have not seen her blog yet, definitely make your way over there for a visit :) There are several recipes that I have added to my 'must try' list that are in her blog. Among them was this recipe for almond tea cookies. These just seemed perfect for the holidays. They basically taste like an almond shortbread cookie. Everyone loved them.


This recipe calls for almond flour. You can purchase almond flour from any specialty foods store, or you can buy it online here. Almond flour is really just ground almonds. It is usually made with almonds that have been blanched and no longer have their skin. Almond meal is made with either blanched or skin-on almonds. You can easily make your own almond meal using your food processor. Just pulse slowly until the almonds become a fine powder. Be careful not to over do it though, or you will end up with almond butter.


I took half of the cookies and covered them in powdered sugar, and then the other half I dipped in chocolate. I used the same chocolate recipe for dipping these as I did with my chocolate covered pretzels.


I decided to submit these cookies for the "Eat Christmas Cookies" blog event, hosted by Susan of Food Blogga. Click on the logo below to visit her blog and see all the other wonderful cookies being submitted!

Almond Crescent Cookies
from Simply Recipes


1 cup of butter, room temperature
2/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of almond extract
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of almond flour
1/4 cup of powdered sugar for sprinkling


Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the extracts and mix.


Add the flour and almond flour. Mix thoroughly.


Take generous tablespoons of the dough (it will be slightly crumbly) and roll it into a small ball, about an inch in diameter, and then shape into a crescent shape. Place onto parchment paper and bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until a light golden brown.


Dust with powdered sugar.

For added decadence let the cookies cool and dip one end of them into some melted chocolate, then let the chocolate harden.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen cookies.