In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, flour, almond meal, confectioners sugar, salt, vanilla, almond extract and cardamom. Turn the mixer on low speed (to prevent the dreaded flour cloud) until its safe to mix at medium speed. Blend for about 1 minute until it forms a cohesive dough.
With your hands, form the dough into a ball and cut it into quarters. Roll each into a ball and then, roll each ball into a rope that's about 1" in diameter (use a ruler to measure). Use a pastry scraper to cut the rope into 1" pieces.
Roll each piece into a smaller rope that measures 4" long (use a ruler to keep them even).
Use your fingers to curve the smaller "rope" into a crescent and pinch and form the ends so that they gradually end in small points. Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper about 1" apart.
Continue in this method with the remainder of the dough balls.
Transfer the shaped crescent cookies to the refrigerator and let chill for 20 minutes before baking. Note, this is important for the cookies to hold their shape. If you skip this step, they won't look like crescents.
Position the oven rack to the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°.
When the cookies are chilled and the oven is heated, transfer the cookies to the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies just start to take on a pale golden color.
While the cookies bake, mix together the confectioner's sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a wide shallow dish (like a pie plate) and set aside.
Allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring them individually to the confectioners sugar mixture. Roll the crescents in the sugar until well coated, then transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Store cookies in an airtight container, with each layer separated by a piece of parchment paper. Cookies will keep for 2-3 days if they don't get gobbled up first.