A Saturday in the Kitchen with Nonna: Baking Crescent Cookies

Nov 12

This past Saturday my sister and I spent the afternoon learning how to bake “Biscotti Greca” with our Nonna, best characterized as a crescent-shaped almond cookie. She swears they are Greek cookies, but there are Italian variations such as ricciarelli and amaretti’s. They’re soft, almondy crescents, made with almond flour, slivered almonds, eggs, sugar, and plenty of love — golden on the outside and tender in the middle. Maybe they’re Greek. Maybe they’re Italian. Maybe they’re just Nonna cookies. All I know is, they’re chewy, delicious, and always a hit! Bake before hosting, special occasions, or to bring when visiting family and friends - everyone will love them!

Ingredients

Bake time: 20 mins, 350°C

500-600g - almond flour (4-5 cups) (Depending on the egg size. Ours were large, so we started with 500g (4 cups), and added a little extra sprinkle while mixing to avoid too much wetness/stickiness)
400g - refined cane sugar (2 cups)
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Raw, slivered almonds (zip the bag tightly, and crush them with a meat mallet/large spoon)

Preparation

You’ll need:

1 medium mixing bowl
1 small bowl with room temperature water
1 plate with powdered sugar
1 plate with crushed, slivered almonds
2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper
A cooling rack

Have all your ingredients measured and ready to go — these cookies come together quickly, and the dough needs to be shaped right away to avoid extra moisture and stickiness.

Instructions

Preheat the oven:
Set your oven to 350°C (662°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the dough:
Wash and dry hands well. In a medium bowl, add almond flour, sugar, eggs, and almond extract. Mix the ingredients with your hands until the eggs are evenly dispersed. Make a fist with your dominant hand and use it to “punch down” on the dough to help mix it. The goal is to form a ball of cookie dough.
* Note: You will shape and dust one cookie at a time *
Scoop and roll the dough:
*This is important! - Wet your non-dominant hand (specifically the palm) with some water from the water bowl. You’ll want to keep doing this throughout the shaping process to keep the palm wet and the dough from drying (but also not too wet, where they might start to lose their form). Scoop about a tablespoon of dough with your dominant hand and roll it against your wet palm to make a small “log” shape, and gently drop it onto the plate of crushed almonds.
Dust the cookie:
Gently roll the log (one time) along the crushed almonds. Transfer the log to the powdered sugar plate, and roll the log once more. The log should be fully covered in crushed almonds and powdered sugar after this step.
Transfer to baking sheet:
Using your fingers, form the log into a curved crescent shape, and place it on the baking sheet. (Tip: try not to play with it too much to avoid losing/imprinting your fingers onto the powdered sugar.) Repeat steps 3-5, lining up the crescents in rows.
Bake cookies for 20 minutes on a middle rack. Tip: Halfway through baking, rotate the cookie sheets 180 degrees so they bake evenly.
Gently transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool down and avoid over-baking.