My mother so loved these cookies that she would hide them in the front hall closet so that no one else would eat them! These delicate cookies were her favorite late-night snack. The secret to these cookies is the vanilla sugar coating.
After I learned how to make them, I kept her supplied with these delicious cookies – and, of course, bake extra cookies for myself!
Hazelnut Crescents
½ cup blanched or peeled hazelnuts (do not use hazelnuts with the skins, which taste bitter)
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup superfine sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
Vanilla sugar as needed
Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor until a fine texture. Add the flour and sugar and salt and grind well. With the machine running, feed in the butter to make a coarse meal. Drip in the yolks and vanilla. Use a disher to form into equal size balls. Roll into balls and then shape each ball into a crescent and place on a lined sheet pan. Chill the crescents for about 10 minutes before baking. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes (or until the edges are slightly browned). Cool for a minute, then carefully roll the warm cookies in the vanilla sugar.
How to Make Vanilla Sugar
1 vanilla bean, cut up
2 cups sugar
Place the bean and sugar in a food processor and thoroughly grind. Sift through a sieve to remove any large pieces of vanilla bean.
Equipment Needed: cookie sheets, pan liners, food processor, #70 disher, sieve.
Makes 36 cookies.
