Cardamom-Walnut Crescents

I covered the dough w/plastic wrap to make a log, then refrigerated over night. It was so easy to cut 1/4" slice then cut it in half again, using my fingers to push the dough into an EXAGGERATED crescent shape---mine looked like slightly curved slugs with only a slight crescent. The texture is almost ethereal. For the 8/2017 (partial) eclipse, I painted the interior crescent side with melted chocolate chips. The cardamom/orange flavor held up against the chocolate---yummy!

These are easy, delicious and ethereally light. I used freshly ground green cardamom seeds to amp up the flavor. Jarred ground cardamom is a pale shadow of fresh. Next time I might skip the vanilla sugar topping to get an even less sweet result.

It is absolutely crucial to chill the dough before & after shaping and most importantly, let the cookies cool in the pan for at least the 5 mins recommended. I think that's why other bakers complained about the crumbling. I did use all the zest from a large orange & about a scant teaspoon of cardamom. The taste is lovely.

Walnut halves will give you good results here; we're amending the recipe above to include that information. Unfortunately we published this recipe before we began including metric weights, but you'll find that many baking recipes in Cooking do include them now.

Every Xmas I make about 35 dozen cookies, limited to the 3 favorites in my family. Made these last year for the first time. They were devoured. A great thing about the recipe is that the food processor does most of the work. This year I made double the recipe and they were gone in a flash. There will now be 4 Christmas cookie recipes every year.

I think chopped walnuts will work just as well as the more expensive walnut halves (if you can find them...) since all the dough ingredients get ground up to coarse meal texture in the food processor. Most experienced cooks will realize this, but there are folks who will believe "The Times said "walnut halves" so I have to find walnut halves!"

Made this, yum. “Sophisticated flavor” someone said at the cookie swap. Note for folks commenting that it is dry: it is 1/4 POUND (which is 1/2 cup or 1 stick) of butter. It would be dry with less. I almost put in only 1/4 cup but a friend rereading the recipe saved me.

Dani, if you make sure your dough is refrigerated, and work quickly to shape your cookies, they will hold their shape while baking. Adding more flour might toughen up your cookies. Cheers!

Made per recipe w/ delightfully delicious, tender, not-to-sweet cookies as outcome. Maybe bit more cardamom next time. Vanilla sugar essential finishing touch. Some say refrigerate dough before and/or after shaping. I wouldn't. Dough is just right but you need to handle gently. Use a 2 tsp 'ish' ice cream scoop to portion dough. Gently roll each portion between fingers into a little "log". Then bend each log to crescent shape. Easy. 18 min bake time. Made 25.

Dead easy, super delicious, very forgiving. I was far too lazy to make them into moons/crescents. I also didn’t bother with the sugar vanilla topping. This was like a light, spiced shortbread. Definitely making this again.

The texture of these cookies is phenomenal! SO tasty! Don't make the mistake I made and add orange extract since there was no zest in the house, it overpowers the cardamom. Otherwise, great!

These are delicious! Great texture as others said, light and buttery. The orange/cardamom flavor was subtle, I may try adding a little more of each next time for more flavor but everyone loved them as is. I mixed chocolate chips, butter, and milk and dipped some of the cookies halfway as another note suggested. Yum!

These are, without exageration, the best cookies I have ever eaten. The only tricky part is getting a smooth crescent shape. I've resorted to patting the balls of dough into flattened circles and then using a small cookie cutter to take a bite out of the circle, but I bet someone has found an even better method. I'm also using a slightly larger amount of dough for each cookie. Ideas?

I used the zest of an entire orange and slightly increased walnut amount to one full cup. Baked it at 350F for about 25 mins. Turned out excellent. Very delicious cookies and very easy to make.

The nicest thing about these cookies is that they are not too sweet. The recipe is simple and the texture of the cookies is lovely.