Mexican Wedding Cookies or Crescent Cookies

Wedding Cookies were a holiday tradition in my Mother's home.  Every Christmas Eve, my mother would gather all of us around the kitchen table to help make these delicious delicacies.  She always called them Crescent Cookies because she shaped them like a crescent moon (an old tradition passed down by her mother).  

Ingredients

• For The Dough

  • 1 cup pecan halves
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

• For The Garnish

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse pecans, flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt until mixture resembles coarse meal; add butter and pulse until a dough forms. Shape dough into a disk or crescent, and wrap tightly in plastic; refrigerate until firm, 30 to 60 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 level tablespoon. Space 1 1/2 inches apart on two large baking sheets. Bake, switching sheets from top to bottom halfway through, until cookies are just golden around edges, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to a rack to cool completely. Place confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Roll cookies in sugar twice to coat thoroughly, tapping off excess.