I remember the first time I made these cookies. The kids all turned their noses up at them because they didn't have any chocolate in them.. That soon changed as the cookies were cooling. By the time the sugar was barely dusted on top of them it was every woman and man for herself ! Almond Crescents are very popular, not only for the holidays, but as a great every day cookie. I believe it was the rich buttery texture and delicious almond fragrance that sold my kids on these cookies. They would just tell you that they taste great! That says it all to me!

If you are not a big fan of almonds you can substitute walnuts in place of the almonds. Also, if your family isn't has nutty as mine, you can leave out the nuts completely and increase your flour to 1 1/2 cups instead of 1 cup.

What you need:

• 1 1/4 cups of unblanched almonds
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sifted confectioner's sugar for cookie dusting

What you do:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grind the nuts in a food processor, blender or nut grinder until it looks like a coarse flour.
2. Sift the flour and salt and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the ground almond "flour" , vanilla, and the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix well by stirring. Then form the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a half hour.
5. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
6. Cut off about an inch of the cool dough or the size of a ping pong ball and roll into a small log.- about 1/2 an inch thick. Lightly shape the dough into a small crescent or half moon and place on the prepared baking sheets.
7. Bake until the cookie appears "dry" but not yet brown, this should take about 20 minutes. Place on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes. I like to place the used baking sheet under the rack when I dust the cookies with the confectioner's sugar. Sift the 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar right over the cookies. And then watch them disappear!

Christmas recipes

Santa's Chocolate Sleigh Bell Cookies
This week's Dessert of the Week features craft author Willie Ripple's delicious recipe. These cookies, along with hundreds of other terrific Christmas ideas can be found in her latest best selling book Christmas Parties What Do I Do?. It's great fun to poke each cookie ball with a toothpick, then dip into the chocolate mixture. Watch their eyes as you hold the cookie up over the double boiler to let the excess chocolate drip off. Make a large supply, because they will go fast.

Cheerful Cookie Box
Kathy Ross, the popular craft book author, has written a new book craft book called Crafts for Christian Values. Kathy's latest book is filled with wonderful crafts and ideas to help children learn about Christian values and what they mean. This easy-to-do craft lets you take disposable plastic containers, photos, drawings, and old greeting cards to make a wonderful keepsake. It's so easy that even the little ones can do it too.

Christian Crafts by Kathy Ross
FREE Christian Crafts
FREE Christmas Crafts
"Christmas Story" video review

Cookie Lovers Cookbook
by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen

There's a color photo showing how each cookie should look, easy directions and the recipes are for a wide assortment of cookie favorites. It's has interesting bits of history and pictures of antique cookie jars. It would be a lovely gift for anyone.