It’s the week of Christmas, Y’all!  Most of our ovens will probably be producing all kinds of yummy treats this week.  I still have a bit of baking to finish up, but let me show you what I made this weekend!  Years ago I made a cookie similar to the one pictured above. You know how it goes – the recipe gets misplaced and then forgotten.  Recently a sweet neighbor brought us a plate of Christmas goodies, and on the plate was this cookie!  We remembered how delicious they were by her kind deed!

So, my husband requested these to be added to my Christmas baking list.  They are a little time consuming, but hey, it’s Christmas!  Also, they’re totally worth it!  They’re a cute little cookie full of a flaky dough, nuts, and sugar granules that give that extra special crispy crunch.  Yum!

Hungarian Nut Rolls

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar for rolling

• ½ pound freshly ground walnuts (finely)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup of boiled milk
• 1/8 cup melted butter

Instructions

1. Mix filling in a medium bowl using only ¼ cup of the boiled milk. The mixture should be thick.
2. If the filling is not spreadable, use the rest of the milk.
3. Note: You can make the filling ahead of time and freeze it until you are ready to use it. Just thaw at room temperature when you are ready to use. – I found that I had about half of the filling left over.  It’s in the freezer for another batch!

1. Sift flour and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Beat the cream cheese and butter together with a stand mixer or a hand mixer until completely incorporated and creamy (3-5 minutes).
3. Reduce the speed of the mixer and slowly add in the flour. I used 5 additions and completely mixed in the flour each time. The dough will be soft but not sticky.
4. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and flatten each to ¾” thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until hard, at least 2 hours.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°. Move the oven rack one setting higher than the center.
2. Take one of the disks of dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour both sides. Spread granulated sugar on your pastry board or work surface. Place the dough on top and roll out pastry to 1/16” thick or as thin as possible. Thinner is better. If you roll them too thick, the bottom will burn before the inside has a chance to fully cook and puff up. They still taste good but they taste so much better when properly rolled. I halved the disk, and rolled it into a 6″ square, then divided it into 9 2″ squares (see photo above).
3. With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, trim the dough into a square and then cut the square into 16 smaller squares. My dough never rolled out into a perfect circle so I would just cut as many 1 1/2 “ squares a possible, saving the scraps for later.
4. Place a dollop of filling in one corner of each square. I used ½ teaspoon.
5. Starting in the corner with the filling, roll the dough around the filling from corner to corner, gently pressing down as you roll. Grab the roll on both sides and pinch as you bend the roll to create a crescent shape. Gently move it to a parchment covered baking sheet, placing the Rolls no closer than 1” apart.
6. Repeat with all remaining squares.
7. Sprinkle the middles of the Rolls with just a touch of granulated sugar.
8. Bake 12-14 minutes (I baked mine for 11 minutes) or until the bottom edges are a golden and you can smell them. They should puff up slightly in the middle. Let cool slightly on the pan on a wire rack and then move them gently to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are so delicious!  I’m so happy to have discovered the recipe for these little gems!

What have you baked (or getting ready to bake) in your oven this week?

With love from my country kitchen,