The traditional way to prepare Polish pecan cookies -- ciastka kurche -- is by enveloping a pecan half in the buttery dough. My family took a shortcut by grinding the pecans and adding them to the dough, which was formed into crescent shapes. They usually were made only at Christmas becaue they were time consuming and pecans were (and still are!) so expensive, thus we called them "Christmas crescents."
I've taken another shortcut by scooping the dough and tamping it down. The crescents have become full moons! They are similar to Russian tea cakes, snowballs and Mexican wedding cookies.
Makes 3 dozen Pecan Cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound butter, softened
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups finely chopped pecans
- Confectioners' sugar
Preparation:
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and add sugar, vanilla and water. Mix together flour and salt, and add to creamed mixture, combining thoroughly. Add pecans until completely incorporated.
- Scoop onto ungreased baking sheets and tamp down with a glass dipped in confectioners' sugar. OR, form walnut-size pieces of dough into crescent shapes. Bake 20 minutes.
- While still warm, roll in confectioners' sugar. When cookies are thoroughly cool, roll in confectioners' sugar again and store in an airtight container. These will keep several weeks.
