Viennese Crescents

5.0(52)

The following recipe came from the original edition of ''The New York Times Cook Book'' and was published on Dec. 18, 1955, when Nika Hazelton, the food writer, said it was the greatest cookie recipe ever devised.

by Nancy Harmon Jenkins·published 1984-12-05

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AustrianDessert

Servings

72 crescents

Total time

35 min

Calories / serving

54 kcal

Ingredients (6)

serves

1/4 vanilla beanvanilla
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugarsugar
1 cup walnut meatswalnut
1 cup butter, at room temperaturebutter
3/4 cup granulated sugarsugar
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flourflour

Instructions (5 steps)

01Chop vanilla bean. Pound it in a mortar or pulverize it in an electric blender with about one tablespoon of the confectioner's sugar. Mix with the remaining confectioners' sugar. Cover and let stand, preferably overnight. Reserve while cookies are baked.
02Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
03Cut walnuts with a sharp knife into very small pieces. Pound the pieces to a paste, using mortar and pestle.
04With a wooden spoon or the fingers, mix walnuts, butter, granulated sugar and flour to a smooth dough. Shape dough, about a teaspoon at a time, into small crescents about one and a half inches in diameter.
05Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet until lightly browned, or 15 to 18 minutes. Cool one minute. While still warm, roll cookies in prepared vanilla sugar.

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