My Favorite Cookie

A couple weeks ago I mentioned finally getting my favorite cookie recipe from my mom. She hasn't made the cookies in a couple years because they require a bit more work than your average Christmas cookie. But in my personal opinion....it's totally worth it. These cookies are absolutely delicious and will definitely impress your friends and family. So, I finally got around to baking them and decided to share the recipe (and the results) with you all!

The cookies are called "Hungarian Coffee Crescents". They don't have any coffee in them so I can only deduce that the name is because these cookies would be perfect with coffee. If you plan on making the recipe, please note that the dough needs to be made the night before.

Hungarian Coffee Crescents:

Pastry:
3 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) well-chilled unsalted butter
2 egg yolks, beaten
2 envelopes dry yeast or 2 cakes fresh yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1.5 teaspoons vanilla (that's one and a half)

Filling
3 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup + 8 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup ground walnuts or pecans (I use walnuts and it's delicious)
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water
powdered sugar (optional garnish) (I highly recommend it for the perfect snowy look)

For pastry: Combine dry ingredients in processor or bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yolks, yeast mixture and vanilla and blend until combined. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Remove dough from refrigerator (and let thaw) and divide into 6 equal pieces (if you split it in half the night before and roll into two log it's easy to divide each log into three pieces).

For filling: Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (I couldn't get the stiff peaks to form and my cookies still turned out okay. Just make sure you beat it thoroughly). Gradually beat in 2/3 cup sugar. Combine remaining sugar with cinnamon and nuts.

Grease baking sheet(s) or use heavy duty foil. Roll out 1 piece of dough into very thin round (like a pizza) on a lightly floured surface. (I had difficulties with this step until my mom told me I needed to roll the dough into a ball before I started to make it into a circle.) Brush with egg white and then sprinkle with some of the nut, cinnamon mixture. Using sharp knife (or pizza cutter), cut into 8 equal wedges. Starting at large end, roll wedges up, shaping gently into crescent. Transfer to prepared sheet(s) or foil, spacing about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes to rise (or an hour if your house is particularly cold).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly brush each crescent with beaten egg. Bake until crisp and pale gold, about 20 minutes (I only cooked them for about 16 minutes). Let cool on wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar (while still hot).

You can also bake these cookies ahead of time and freeze them. They're just as good once defrosted and warmed up :)

Here's how mine came out!

Enjoy!

What's your favorite holiday treat?