Chocolate Chip Walnut Crescent Cookie Recipe
Pretty much everyone enjoys a cookie, especially a homemade one. Everyone loves classics like chocolate chip, but one particular type of cookie you may not be familiar with is a crescent cookie. It's soft, dusted with powdered sugar, and the dough is made with ground nuts — in this case, walnuts, which in addition to being tasty, have more antioxidants and omega-3s than the average nut and may even help lower blood pressure.
"The addition of mini chocolate chips is unique to this recipe — they add a little crunch and, of course, chocolate flavor to the buttery cookie," says Kate Shungu, who developed this simple yet satisfying cookie recipe that requires only six common ingredients you likely already have on hand. "These cookies are traditional around the holidays, but truthfully they are delicious year-round. I love them with a glass of milk," she adds. Here's how to whip up these eye-catching walnut crescent cookies.
Get your crescent cookie ingredients ready
This cookie recipe only requires a few ingredients: Walnuts, salted butter, vanilla extract, flour, powdered sugar, and mini chocolate chips. "Walnuts should be unsalted," Shungu explains. "Since we are toasting the walnuts in this recipe, they do not need to be roasted. Either halves or chopped walnuts will work for this recipe."
Toast and grind the walnuts
Walnuts are integral to this cookie recipe, so it's no surprise the first step involves toasting your walnuts on the stove in a dry skillet. Once they cool down, put them in a food processor and give them a whirl until you're left with a nice, nutty powder.
Make the crescent cookie dough
Now, it's dough time. Take the walnuts out of your food processor container and put in the vanilla, flour, butter, and powdered sugar. Use the pulse setting until it looks doughy, then stir in the chocolate chips. Like to plan ahead? You're in luck: "You can make the dough several days in advance. Cover it and refrigerate it until you're ready to roll the cookies," Shungu says.
Form the dough into crescents and chill
Once you've got your dough, prep a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Scoop out a small chunk at a time and roll it into a tube shape, then curve it into a crescent, squeezing the ends a bit to create more dimension in the shape. Once you've formed all your crescents, put the dough in the fridge for an hour or so.
Bake your cookies, dust with sugar, and enjoy
After you've chilled your dough, take it out, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake your crescent cookies until they're lightly golden. Take them out of the oven, let them cool briefly, then move them to a wire rack until they reach room temperature. Put the rest of the powdered sugar in a bowl, roll each cookie in it, and place each piece on wax paper. Now you're free to dig into these nutty, sweet, chocolate-studded treats. "Leftovers will last for about a week in an airtight container at room temperature," Shungu says.
- ¾ cup walnut halves
- ½ cup salted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
- Place walnuts in a medium skillet over medium heat. Toast until fragrant, about 3–4 minutes, stirring frequently so they don't burn.
- Let the walnuts cool and transfer to a food processor. Pulse until finely ground.
- Add the butter, vanilla, flour, and ½ cup of powdered sugar to the food processor. Pulse until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Take a piece of dough roughly one tablespoon in size. Roll into a log, then use your hands to form the dough into a crescent (a gentle "C" shape) while slightly flattening the top. Pinch the ends just slightly to make them thinner than the middle.
- Place on a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
- Refrigerate the crescent-shaped dough for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Bake for 15–18 minutes, or until the dough is light brown on the edges. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool for another 15 minutes.
- Place the remaining 1½ cups powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the cookies in the powdered sugar until coated. Place on a piece of wax paper.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely and serve.
| Calories per Serving | 213 |
| Total Fat | 11.3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5.0 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.3 g |
| Cholesterol | 17.0 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 26.6 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.8 g |
| Total Sugars | 19.0 g |
| Sodium | 52.7 mg |
| Protein | 2.1 g |
