Surprisingly easy to make, these delicious, crescent-shaped butter cookies are rolled in vanilla-flavored sugar and drizzled with chocolate. They make a beautiful addition to a tea time table, or they can be served alongside other holiday or special occasion cookies.
The garnish calls for a packet of vanilla sugar, a common baking product in Morocco. Alternatively, you can use a vanilla bean to flavor granulated sugar at home, but you'll need to let the sugar sit a week or two before proceeding with the recipe. Instructions for making vanilla sugar are below.
Adapted from a recipe by Rachida Amhaouche.
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: Approx. 80 cookies
Ingredients:
- --- For the Dough ---
- 3 1/3 cups flour (430 g)
- 1 1/3 cups (11 oz. or 300 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- --- For the Decoration ---
- 3/4 cup (170 g) vanilla flavored sugar (see directions below)
- 2 oz. (60 g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate
Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 360° F (180° C).
Measure the flour, butter, sugar and egg yolks into a bowl. With your hands, mix and knead the ingredients together until a smooth, homogeneous dough forms.
Break off small pieces of dough and roll into 1" balls. Roll each ball of dough between your palms to shape sticks of dough about the size of a small finger. Bend each stick into a c-shape or crescent shape, and place 1" apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (For variety, you can leave some of the cookies in a stick or log shape.)
Bake the cookies, one pan at a time, until barely golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Loosen the cookies from the pan, and immediately roll the warm cookies in the vanilla sugar (see below). The cookies will be fragile, so handle them carefully.
Crowd the cooled, sugar-coated cookies together onto a single pan. Melt the chocolate and place it in a small plastic bag, twisting the top to close it as you would for a pastry bag. Pierce a bottom corner of the bag with a toothpick, and drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies with a back-and-forth or zigzag motion. Leave the chocolate to set before storing the cookies.
Vanilla SugarTo make the vanilla sugar instantly, combine 3/4 cup sugar with 1 to 1 1/2 packets of vanilla sugar (available in Morocco). Or, ahead of time, combine 2 cups of sugar with a whole vanilla bean, sliced down the middle and cut into several pieces. Cover and leave to sit for one to two weeks before using.
