Spelt-nut crescents

Ingredients

• 1½ cups spelt flour
• ½ cup blanched whole hazelnuts, toasted
• ¾ cup blanched whole almonds, toasted
• ¼ tsp salt
• 170 g (¾ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ cups icing (confectioners’) sugar

Makes about 30.

Chilling time: 30 minutes. Cooling time: about 1 hour.

Instructions

1. In a food processor, combine ½ cup flour with nuts and pulse until nuts are finely ground. In a bowl, whisk together flour-nut mixture and remaining 1 cup flour and salt.
2. In a bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and ½ cup sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in two batches, and beat until combined.
3. Roll a scant tablespoon-sized potion of dough into a 7.5 cm (3 inch) log. Using your fingers, shape log into a crescent, tapering the ends slightly to the center is the widest part. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing crescents about 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Freeze or refrigerate until crescents are very firm, about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges of cookies begin to turn golden, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Roll cookies in remaining 1 cup sugar.

Note

• Cookies can be keep in a airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.