Kue Putri Salju (Crescent Cookies)

• Toast them on a dry pan over medium heat until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes or so. Alternatively, you can roast them dry in the oven at 350 F (180 C) for 10 minutes, stirring them halfway. Let the nuts cool down completely
• Finely chop the nuts and set aside. From all the nuts that I've tried so far: cashews, pecans, hazelnuts, and almonds, the kids like cashews and pecans version the best 🙂

Prepare the dough:

• Preheat your oven to 300F (180 C) for conventional oven, 280 F (140 C) for convection oven. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper
• Cream butter and icing sugar at low speed using a paddle attachement. You can also just manually beat with spatula without using the machine
  
• Add egg yolks one by one.
  
• Add finely chopped nuts, cornstarch, and milk powder and beat for a few second until just combined
  
• Add salt and gradually add in the all-purpose flour in 3 batches
  
• Don't overwork the dough too much, just mix until it is barely combined.
  
• Scrape the sides of the bowl to gather the dough and use your hands to form into a non-sticky dough. If it's very sticky, add a bit more flour, one tablespoon at a time.
  

To form shape using cookie cutter:

• My mom got these special kue salju cookie cutter from Medan. They are pretty handy to have. It makes the work much faster 🙂
  
• Now it also comes in different shape
  
• I put the dough in between two cling wrap (parchment paper works too)
  
• Roll the dough out into about 1/2-inch (about 1.2 cm) in thickness and use the cookie cutter to cut out the shape.
  
• I dip the cutter in a flour to prevent sticking. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the dough
  
• I tried to cut as closely as possible to prevent too many times I need to re-roll the dough to cut more dough out later
  
• Gently push the dough out and place them on a baking sheet. They don't spread a whole lot
  

To form shape without using a cookie cutter:

• If you don't have the cookie cutter, simply divide the dough into 30-40 balls (depending on how big you want the cookies).
  
• Slightly flatten and then shape the dough into a crescent shape using your fingers. Continue with the next dough when the first tray is baking
  

To chill or not to chill the shaped dough:

• I don't have to chill the dough before baking. I suggest trying to bake 3-4 cookies and see how they behave. If they spread too much, I recommend chilling the dough for 30 minutes in the freezer before baking.

Baking:

• Bake one tray of cookie at a time for the best result. Place the baking sheet, 3rd rack from the top and bake for 20-23 minutes or until they are lightly golden brown on the bottom and the top are still pretty pale in color. Let them rest for about 2-3 minutes
  
• Prepare a container with some icing sugar. Place 4-5 warm cookies in the sugar and gently shake to coat them. Place them on a cooling rack. Repeat with the rest
  
• Let them cool down completely. Then you can go for a second round of coating to make sure they live up to their snow-white appearance 🙂 but if you don't want them to be too sweet, you can skip the second coating.
  

Storage:

• They can be kept in an air-tight container for 1 week and beyond if stored in cool dry place