Pecan Crescents for the Holidays

Fuzz has been doing a lot of baking, and yesterday she made a batch of these Pecan Crescents. She mixed things up a bit, though. Instead of using pecans, she used ground roasted hazelnuts and a dash of hazelnut extract. Unfortunately, I only got a tiny taste of her cookies before she packed them up and took them to a party.  Craving more, I made another batch using Fuzz’s recipe, but sticking with the traditional pecans.

The recipe for these cookies calls for confectioners’ sugar in the dough and on the outside, so the texture is light and crumbly. I didn’t use fancy pecans, but rather already chopped Betty Crocker brand pecans from Walgreen’s. They were good right out of the bag, but to up the flavor a bit I toasted them for about 5 minutes at 350 and tossed them with a tiny bit of butter. Another little trick to make the cookies better is to use European style butter. Any butter works, but with so few ingredients the European butter’s flavor stands out. It might also help the texture, because these were just about perfect!

Easy Pecan Crescents

Pecan Crescents

Cookie Madness

Traditional Pecan Crescents made with butter and confectioners' sugar.

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 36

Ingredients

 

• 1 stick 4 oz salted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt increase to 1/4 if using unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line one or two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat together softened butter, confectioners' sugar and salt. Stir in the vanilla, then add the flour and stir until mixed. Stir in the pecans.
• Using a teaspoon measure, shape bits of dough into small crescents and place on the baking sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes. Let sit on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
• Put some confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl and roll the warm cookies in the sugar. Let them cool completely, then dust with more sugar.

Notes

Tips for Even Better Cookies: For the butter, try to find salted European style. Make sure the confectioners' sugar is super fresh or right out of the box. For the pecans, try roasting them for about 5 minutes at 350 and tossing with a tiny bit of butter. Let cool before using.