Monday, June 11, 2007

Mondays with Maida - Austrian Walnut Crescents


Page 228 in the old book / page 253 in the new book

Tender and buttery little cookies in a pleasing crescent shape - you'll get no complaints from me! Well, perhaps one teeny weeny quibble... they need a bit of salt. But these cookies are easy to like even without the salt.

The dough is slightly crumbly (and seemed to become more so as time passed), but still relatively easy to handle. The shaping takes a little time, but is quite doable. Maida tells you to roll the dough between your hands, but I found it easiest to first shape the dough with my fingertips into the shape you see at the top of the picture below - sort of like two back-to-back cones. This shape must then be thinned out and lengthened. You can do that either by rolling it between your hands, or by rolling it on a flat surface with both hands. I found that this second method was better for getting evenly tapered ends, but sometimes resulted in the cookie caving in. Fortunately, the dough can be easily pinched back into shape with your fingers. The final step is to bring the ends around to form a crescent shape.



Here's the panel...

Suzanne: "Yum! The taste reminded me of a similar cookie that’s round with walnuts in them and is covered with powdered sugar. The Austrian Walnut Crescents didn’t crumble when you ate them and were not as heavy as the round cookie. The crescent shape with the powdered sugar was attractive. I loved the walnut taste of the cookie. I could eat them all. Rating - 5.0"

Laura: "Yummy, tasty and crunchy... but just a little drier than I like. Rating - 3.0"

Denny: "A very nice little cookie, but a little bit on the bland side. Crunchy and tasty with a bit too much powdered sugar. Even with the -1 chocolate deficiency, I'd give them a 3.0. Rating - 3.0"

Terri: "These are outstanding! The walnuts are finely ground and the buttery flavor is delicious. These would be an excellent choice to serve with a chocolate type cookie Rating - 5.0"

Overall rating by the panel - 4.0

Next week - Sour Cream and Pecan Dreams

Nutrition Facts


Ghosts of cookies past

6 comments:

santos. said...

i am completely amused by how this cookie is attributed to so many countries; it is just such a good dough everyone wants to take credit for it, i guess :)

love that photo of the ghosts!

Anonymous said...

I'm so pleased you got such high ratings for this one. And here's a suggestion for chocolate-loving Denny: use a scale of 1 to 6. That way you've always factored in that minus one...I love the last photo you posted!

Nupur said...

Oh, the ghost photo is gorgeous, Cathy! Your work is soooo neat. If I posted a photo of the kitchen counter when I'm making cookies...I shudder to think about it :)

Cathy said...

Hi Santos! Very true - it's such a simple dough too. This one isn't as nutty as some... I remember my Mom's recipe had so many nuts the dough barely held together. Not sure which country that recipe hailed from :)

Hi Mari! Thanks! Oh well, Denny averages out and probably contributes to a more realistic score at times (I think sometimes cookie panelists are a little too generous with the 5's)

Hi Nupur! Thank you! Don't worry - that corner was cleared off just for the photo... it's not usually like that!

Amy said...

I love checking your blog every week.

Cathy said...

Hi Amy - thanks, I'm glad to hear that!