Leslie's Favorite Family Recipe

An old Priest (Leslie’s grandmothers’s maiden name) family (favorite!) recipe

My maternal grandmother, Nana (Remember the one who lived to 103?) used to make crescents every Christmas. Traditionally known as wedding cookies, we didn’t have to wait for someone to get married to enjoy these melt-in-your mouth treats. My mom and grandmother rolled the sugary balls of dough in their hands, expertly shaping the ends to a point, then bending them to the form of a crescent moon before baking. My job was the most important: sprinkling them with powdered sugar. We—and, by that, I mean Mom and Nana—filled two giant Tupperware® cake-takers of the buttery treats.

Pecans—good.
Powdered sugar—good.
Butter—really good.
What’s not to love in crescents?

See the recipe below.

Crescents (Wedding Cookies)

Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter or margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
¼ tsp almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans or other nuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°.

Hand mix together until well blended:
butter, softened
½ cup of powdered sugar
vanilla
almond extract

Slowly add sifted flour to the mix (You don’t usually have to use all of it.) Mix dough to resemble soft “play-dough,” adding flour as you mix.

Add pecans. Pinch off a dough ball approximately one inch in diameter. Use the heat from the palm of your hand to soften as you roll into a small “cigar” shape with the ends slightly pointed. Curve as you place dough ball onto cookie sheet.

Bake 30 minutes until tips are slightly browned. Sift powdered sugar onto baking board or waxed paper and place crescents onto the sugar. Sprinkle additional powered sugar on top.