Best Pecan Crescents Recipes

PECAN CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
• Cream butter or margarine, gradually adding confectioners' sugar and salt. Cream until light and fluffy.
• Stir in pecans and vanilla. Add flour gradually. Mix well. Shape dough into crescents using a teaspoon full for each crescent. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 15-30 minutes. Do not brown. Let cool slightly, then roll cookies in additional confectioners' sugar.

PECAN-CRANBERRY CREAM CHEESE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Beat the butter, cream cheese, 2 tablespoons sugar and the salt in a large bowl with a mixer on low speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the flour and mix until crumbly, about 1 minute. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead with your hands to make a soft dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Make the filling: Put the dried cranberries and 1 tablespoon water in a medium microwave-safe bowl; microwave until plump, about 1 minute. Let cool. Stir in the pecans, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon, then stir in the milk.
• Roll out the dough until 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out circles using a 3 1/2-inch-round cookie cutter. Gather the scraps; reroll once to cut more circles. Place a heaping teaspoonful of filling on the bottom third of each circle, leaving a small border. Brush the edges with a little milk, fold the dough over the filling and roll to enclose; pinch the 2 ends closed and bend into a crescent shape. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
• Arrange the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets; brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake, switching the pans halfway through, until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.

PECAN CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Pulse pecans in a food processor until finely ground (being careful not to grind to a paste). Beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, then add 5 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in water and vanilla, then flour and nuts, beating on low speed until blended well. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• On a lightly floured pastry cloth, roll level teaspoons of dough into 3-inch ropes, tapering ends. Curve each roll, as formed, into a crescent and arrange crescents 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake in batches in middle of oven until pale golden, 12 to 14 minutes. While cookies are baking, sift remaining confectioners sugar into a shallow bowl. As cookies are done, transfer, a few at a time, to sugar and gently toss to coat, tapping off excess. (Sugar will melt slightly onto hot cookies.) Cool cookies on a rack. If you want sugar coating to be white and powdery, toss cookies in confectioners sugar again when cool

COCOA-PECAN CRESCENTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, with electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
• Stir together flour, cocoa and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, blending well.
• Stir in pecans.
• Cover; refrigerate dough 1 hour, or until firm enough to handle.
• Preheat oven to 375°.
• For each cookie, shape scant 1 tablespoon dough into log about 2 ½ inches long; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Shape each log into crescent shape, tapering ends.
• Bake 13-15 minutes, or until set.
• Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
• Cool completely.
• Roll in confectioner’s sugar.

PECAN AND BROWN SUGAR CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar in processor. Using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal; then process continuously until dough begins to come together.
• Roll 2 teaspoonfuls of dough between palms of hands to form 2 1/2-inch-long rope, tapering at ends. Place on ungreased baking sheet; curl in ends to form crescent shape. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies 1 inch apart.
• Bake cookies until just firm to touch, about 20 minutes. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. Sift powdered sugar over. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

PECAN CRESCENTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Gradually add flour and mix well. Stir in pecans. , Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into crescents. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake at 300° for 18-20 minutes or until firm. Roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.