Almond cookies are one of those things that instantly takes me back to a snowy white Christmas free of any worries; warm and cozy. One of our good neighbour/friend who was German made the best almond cookies ever.  She always gave us a big box of them.  I remember I would often eat the entire box by myself. The hungry and young teenager me, shamelessly would always ask for more.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

I love hearing about how every family has their own little traditions that make the holidays that much more special for them. It is wonderful to hear about the memories that they carry with them from when they were young, and how they are now passing these traditions on to their own children. Since my kids were little, we have started a new tradition of our own. On Christmas Eve, we camp out in our living room under (or beside :)) the tree. In the morning, we look through our stockings and enjoy the little gifts Santa has left us. Our kids love this experience, and they look forward each year.

Coming back to my almond cookies, unfortunately, as years went by, I lost contact with our neighbour, we moved and they moved as well. Since then, I have made almond cookies almost every year.  And every year the taste and the smell take me back to my younger years and jogs forgotten memories like it was yesterday.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup of confectioners’ sugar

1 cup of finely ground almonds

2 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup of butter (unsalted, room temperature)

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Icing sugar for dusting

combine all dry ingredients together. Mix sugar, butter until pale and fluffy.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour mixture and almond until it is combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Shape the dough into half-moon (half crescents), bake in a 325 degree oven for 20- 25 minutes until light golden.

Wait a few minutes to cool before dusting with icing sugar