| Recipe: |
From Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts
(original name 110th St. Walnut Crescents)
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. finely ground walnuts, packed (160 grams)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. confectioners sugar
pinch of salt
2 c. flour
Dark chocolate for glazing/“frosting”
I toast my walnuts in a skillet over medium heat for a few minutes first (until they smell delightfully nutty and start to brown). Then grind in a food processor. In fact, you can do all your mixing in a food processor.
Cream butter and walnuts. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, slowly add the remaining ingredients and beat until well blended. [[Scrape onto a sheet of waxed paper or plastic wrap, flatten, cover and chill until firm-ish... if it’s too firm you'll have to wait for it to soften up some before you can roll it.]]**
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter baking sheets or use silicone baking mats. Divide dough into two parts. [[Roll out each half into 9"x15" rectangle between two sheets of waxed paper.]]** Using a round cookie cutter about 3" across (or a drinking glass), cut three rows of nested crescents. Use a thin (not narrow) spatula, wiggling it back and forth, to move each cookie to the cookie sheet as you cut them (that is, cut one crescent and move it before cutting the next). If you don't get the visual, email me and I'll send a sketch (jen.pauls@gmail.com).
**I might be a GENIUS!! I just made a half recipe... and instead of making a square, chilling it, and rolling it into two 9"x15" pieces I cut an 18"x15" piece of parchment, put the entire half recipe on the parchment, folded it in half, and rolled it out to fill the whole parchment while it was SOFT. Then slid it on a rimless cookie sheet and chilled it. Took less time to chill *and* didn't have to roll out cold dough!
Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown. Sprinkle with extra powdered sugar if desired. Allow to cool slightly and transfer to rack.
You can up the tastiness a notch by melting some chocolate and dipping one end or partially frosting a thin layer. Chocolate should be chopped fairly finely and microwaved at low power in short intervals, stirring between, until just barely melted. If you do this carefully, the chocolate should set almost as solidly as the original. Heat it too much and you’ll lose the temper and it will be soft/sticky/messy at room temperature. [Or you can use a trick a lot of Midwesterners used (use?) which is to melt in some paraffin wax (2 T for 6 oz chocolate by one recipe I just consulted). Then the wax sets the chocolate.]
About 5 g. net carb each if making 60 cookies.
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