Almond Crescents: Christmas Cookies My Mom Made

Tis the season for cookies!  But I think it would be healthier for me if I wrote about them more than making & eating them.  Everybody grew up with different Christmas cookies.  In some cases, the cookies were similar but the names were different.  My mom's Snickerdoodles were pretty much identical to my friend's mom's Snippernoodles.  (Snippernoodles!  Harrumph.  What a silly name.  Snickerdoodles is obviously a better name. ☺)

So, in the spirit of the season, thought I'd share some from my mom's recipe box. As she will want me to point out, she didn't invent the recipes but the sources are lost to history.

So, here's the first in a series of Christmas cookie recipes: Almond Crescents!  This results in a very short, rich, small but satisfying cookie.  I can smell and taste them as I type.  Such memories!

Ingredients (to yield about 5 dozen cookies):

• 1 2/3 cups sifted flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup shortening (The recipe, in handwriting that might be my paternal grandmother's, specifies 1/2 Spry shortening, 1/4 butter, and 1/4 margarine but we almost always made them using all margarine.)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup ground blanched almonds
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar

Procedure:

1. Sift together flour and salt
2. Cream shortening (butter, margarine) with the granulated sugar
3. Add almonds and flour, mixing well
4. Chill the dough for 30 minutes or more
5. Preheat oven to 350°F
6. Roll the dough into 1/2" diameter rolls, 2 1/2 inches long
7. Place the rolls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bend to ressemble crescents
8. Bake 15 minutes and allow to cool on the sheet
9. When cool, roll in confectioner's sugar

Yummy.  Maybe I will make 1/2 a batch before the season's over ...