These hazelnut crescent cookies are a unique spin on classic melt-in-your-mouth nut crescents. Instead of pecans or walnuts, they’re made with crunchy chopped hazelnuts!
As a child, especially around the holidays, I frequently asked my mother to make one of my favorite cookies, which she called sand tarts. I loved helping her make them, especially shaping them and rolling them in confectioners’ sugar. I eventually found the sand tarts recipe I remembered, but I’ve also adapted a comparable recipe that I found in Cook’s Illustrated‘s Holiday Baking issue several years ago. While my mother always made her sand tarts with pecans, I decided to go with hazelnuts for something different.
Why You’ll Love These Crescent Cookies
- Unique texture. This crescent cookie recipe is a study in contrasts. It manages to be both familiar and unique; it melts in your mouth, but it’s also delightfully crisp and crunchy.
- A hit for the holidays. This crescent cookie recipe is always a welcome addition to any holiday cookie tray.
- Universal appeal. While my family called them sand tarts, others know them as nut crescents, Mexican wedding cookies, Italian wedding cookies, or Russian tea cakes. They’re beloved everywhere!
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Toasted hazelnuts – Or substitute pecans, walnuts, almonds, or a combination.
- All-purpose flour – Learn more: How to Measure Flour
- Salt
- Unsalted butter – Learn more: Unsalted or Salted Butter: Which is Better for Baking?
- Superfine sugar – You can purchase this in many grocery stores, specialty stores, or make your own superfine sugar at home.
- Vanilla extract – Use store-bought or homemade vanilla extract.
- Confectioners’ sugar – This is also called powdered sugar, icing sugar, or 10X sugar.
How Do You Toast Hazelnuts?
You have two options here. If you prefer to keep an eye on the nuts as you toast them, place them in a large skillet over medium heat; toast them in the pan until the skin blisters, their color darkens, and they become fragrant. Remove them from the pan immediately.
The second option is to place the hazelnuts on a sheet pan and roast them for about 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 350ºF. Halfway through the cooking time, give the pan a good shake.
How to Make Hazelnut Crescent Cookies
Let’s take a quick look at how to make these cookies step-by-step. Don’t forget that you can scroll down to the recipe card for printable instructions.
- Prepare. Preheat your oven to 325°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of the nuts, all of the flour, and the salt.
- Process the remaining nuts. Add the remaining cup of nuts to a food processor and process until the nuts resemble coarse cornmeal. Add the pulsed nuts to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Finish the dough. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until they’re light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the flour mixture and beat until the dough comes together.
- Form the cookies. Use a tablespoon of dough at a time to form the cookies. Roll the dough into balls; they can be baked this way, or you can pinch them into crescents, rings, or small bars.
- Bake. Set the shaped cookies on the prepared baking sheets. Bake one pan at a time for about 15 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies are a pale golden color and the bottoms are just beginning to brown.
- Cool. Place the pans on wire racks. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer them directly to the racks to finish cooling. (Learn more: Why Every Baker Needs Wire Cooling Racks)
- Coat with sugar. Roll the cooled cookies in confectioners’ sugar, shaking off the excess.
Tips for Success
- Expect a dry dough. Nut crescent dough is dry and crumbly, but when you pinch it together in your fingers (and roll it into balls), it will stick together. Because the dough is dry to begin with, it’s even more important to measure the flour carefully so you don’t use too much.
- Don’t reuse hot pans. If you don’t have enough baking sheets for all the cookies, roll one batch of dough, bake it, then let the baking sheet cool before using it again.
- Give the cookies a refresh. If you’re making these cookies for later, they can lose some of the powdery sugar coating. You can roll them in confectioners’ sugar again just before serving.
How to Store
- Counter: Hazelnut crescent cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
- Can I freeze them? If you’d like to freeze hazelnut crescent cookies, place them in a freezer bag or airtight container and store them in the freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw them at room temperature before serving.
Hazelnut Crescent Cookies
Hazelnut Crescent Cookies are a simple and delightful cookie with a subtle sweetness and nuttiness.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (282g) toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped* (divided)
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup (75g) superfine sugar**
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 & 1/2 cups (165g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- Mix 1 cup of the nuts, all of the flour, and the salt. Set aside.
- Place the remaining cup of nuts in a food processor and process about 10 to 15 seconds until the nuts resemble coarse cornmeal. Stir into the flour mixture.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat until the dough is cohesive, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Using one tablespoon of dough at a time, roll into balls. (Cookies can be baked as balls or can be rolled between palms and shaped into crescents, rings, or small bars.)
- Place the cookies on the prepared pans. Bake (one pan at a time) 15 minutes, or until the tops of cookies are pale golden and the bottoms are just beginning to brown.
- Place the pans on wire racks and allow to cool on baking sheets about 5 minutes. Then, transfer the cookies from the pans directly onto a wire rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
- When the cookies have cooled, roll each in confectioners’ sugar to coat completely. Shake off any excess sugar. If needed, the cookies can be rolled again in confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Notes
*Feel free to substitute pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.
**Don’t have superfine sugar? Process regular granulated sugar in a food processor for about 30 seconds.
Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.
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28 Comments on “Hazelnut Crescent Cookies”
What a coincidence that I stumbled upon this. I’ve been living abroad for the past few months and have been feeling nostalgic for holiday baking (and, more specifically, for cookies like these). My mom and I usually make these every year using her old family recipe. We call them “sand tarts” as well and always make them with pecans. With a splash of extra vanilla thrown in, they are the best!
EAB, what a wonderful coincidence! I don’t know if it’s just the cookie or the memories, but these are definitely the best.
Just lovely! I know these as mexican wedding cookies. It doesn’t matter what there name is; as long as they taste great and bring back all of our wonderful Christmas memories.
I’m going to make those cinnamon roll cookies—thanks for listing the recipe!
These are one of my absolute Christmas favourites! Beautiful!
Thanks, Gigi and Ivonne!
JEP, you’re welcome! I hope you enjoy them.
I love these too, and I’m trying to decide which recipe to go with. Are yours crisp or soft inside? I really like the soft, nearly underbaked variety.
Thanks,
Julie
Julie, these cookies are wonderfully soft inside. I like all cookies a bit underbaked anyway. I’m not a big fan of crispy cookies. If you make them, let me know what you think!
Thanks so much, Jennifer. The first thing I want to know about a new cookie recipe is, are they soft or crispy!
Julie
Oh, I loved these!! I hope you saved some for me! This was a specialty in our childhood, huh?
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Should I assume that the 1 cup of nuts that was processed to meal consistency is added to the dough? I reread the instructions 3 times. This sounds just wonderful and know my husband will adore these cookies. Thanks so much for posting it.
Hi, Karen. Yes, mix that in with the flour mixture. I’ve clarified that in the recipe. Thanks!
hi there, sorry if this is already written somewhere but i can’t seem to find it. approximately how many cookies will one batch make?
thanks so much!
Hi, Tina. If you use a tablespoonful of dough per cookie, you’ll get about 4 dozen cookies.
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I just tried this yummy recipe from your blog and it has come out really yummy!! 🙂
This is my first cookies and I am quite happy with the outcome…
Thanks for sharing this easy recipe 🙂
Do you hazelnuts with skin or without skin?
Hi, Lejing. My preference would be to remove the skins.
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Hey there! Can the butter be substituted with vegan butter?
Hi, Faith. I’ve never baked with vegan butter, so I can’t say for sure. There are also many options for a vegan butter substitute, which would all give varying results. If you’ve had previous success baking with a particular one, then I would assume you’d get similar results using it with these cookies.