Cresent Moon Cookies

Cresent Moon Cookies 1/2 cup butter at room temperature 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract 1 cup powdered sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 1 1/3 cup finely ground almonds A pinch of salt More powdered sugar for covering the cookies Preheat the oven to 325° F (160° C). Beat the margarine or butter with the flavoring until it’s light and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat again until the mass is light. Add the rest of the ingredients, beating to mix thoroughly. Knead the dough briefly. It should feel smooth and firm. If it doesn’t hold together, add flour cautiously, by tablespoons, to achieve firmness. Take pieces of dough about the size of a heaping teaspoon. Roll them into thick strands about 3″ and shape them into crescents. Place each crescent on your baking pan as it’s finished, spacing them well apart. The dough is delicate and will fall apart with too much handling. Use your fingertips to roll. It literally takes about 2 seconds per strand. If the raw crescent looks weird, just squash it up and start over. It takes a little practice to get regular crescents. The middle of the crescent will be fatter than the tips, and that’s fine. Bake for 15 minutes. The cookies should still be pale, or only a little brown at the tips. Sift the powdered sugar over the cookies while they’re still on the baking pan. Or let them cool for a few minutes, then drag them through the sugar. Either way, put them on a wire rack to finish cooling completely. These cookies are almost irresistible fresh out of the oven, but the flavor improves over 24 hours.