Here is a cookie recipe that I used to make every Christmas until life whirled out of control. They were always a big hit - actually at one time I would make hundreds and hundreds of them and box 'em up as Christmas gifts. The recipe can be doubled, tripled and quadrupled - they're actually easy to make but a bit of a "putch-key" as my grandmother used to say!
1 pkg (4 oz) shelled, blanched almonds.
1 pound sweet butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Confectioners sugar
1. Chop nuts fine in a Cuisinart or similar type of machine so it looks like sand (not superfine - more between sand and gravel).
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Slowly add approximately 2 cups of flour, the nuts, and vanilla. The consistency should allow you to roll about a Tablespoon of dough in your hands and not be sticky.
4. Roll dough into a ball -then shape into crescents.
5. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 35 minutes at 300.
6. While warm roll in confectioners sugar. (This can be the messy part - be careful not to break the warm baked cookies when you pick them up and put them in the sugar)
7. Carefully put the cookies on a rack to cool.
I promise the mess is worth it - they are almondy, buttery, and delicious.
