Sicilian Nut Rolls Recipes

Steps:

• For the pastry dough: Whisk the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl to blend. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the egg mixture and mix with a fork until the dough comes together. Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough in 2 and flatten into disks. Wrap the dough disks in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, for the filling and cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper. Finely chop the figs and raisins in a food processor. Add the honey, orange juice, cinnamon, and lemon zest, and pulse just to blend. Scrape the fig mixture into a medium bowl. Stir in the walnuts. Transfer the fruit mixture to a pastry bag.
• Roll out 1 disk of dough on a floured work surface to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch diameter biscuit cutter, cut out dough rounds. Gather the dough scraps into a disk, then cover and refrigerate while assembling the cookies. Spoon the fruit mixture in the center of each dough round. Lightly moisten the edges of the dough with the egg wash. Fold the dough over the filling and press the edges to seal. Arrange the cookies evenly apart on the prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops of the cookies with egg wash. Bake until the cookies are pale golden, about 18 minutes.
• Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely. Repeat with the refrigerated dough scraps and remaining filling.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the sugar, salt, butter, sour cream, eggs and 3 cups flour. Beat on medium speed for until smooth, 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky). , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, egg and cinnamon. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat; gently stir in walnuts and apple. Cool completely., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 4 portions. Roll each into a 12x10-in. rectangle. Spread filling to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seams to seal. Place seam side down on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes., Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine icing ingredients; drizzle over loaves.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, eggs, tomato juice, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Crumble beef over the mixture and mix well. , On a pieces of heavy-duty foil, pat meat mixture into a 12x10-in. rectangle. Place the ham and shredded cheese on loaf to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up, jelly-roll style, beginning with the short end and peeling foil away while rolling. , Place on a greased baking pan with seam side down; seal ends. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and a thermometer reaches 160°. Top with sliced cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Steps:

• Place the kneader attachment onto the stand mixer.
• Proof the yeast with 1 teaspoon sugar in 3/4 cup water for 10 minutes or until foamy.
• In the stainless steel mixing bowl place 3-1/2 cups flour, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar and melted butter.
• When the yeast has proofed add to the bowl along with 3/4 cup warm water.
• Start kneading adding in more flour only if needed (total kneading time should take about 8 minutes) do not add in too much flour or the buns will be heavy, when finished kneading the dough should feel soft but semi-sticky and smooth and should stick to your hands only slightly when removing from the bowl.
• Remove the dough to a very lightly flour-dusted surface; cover with clean tea towel and let rest 5 minutes.
• Shape into a ball (the dough will come together nicely after resting).
• Place into a large greased deep glass bowl.
• Cover and let rise for about 60-90 minutes.
• To check if the dough is ready to be punched down, very gently stick two fingers about 1/2-inch into the dough, the dough is ready when the finger marks remain.
• Punch down dough and slice in half.
• Slice each half into 4 even pieces.
• Shape each piece into a round ball.
• Place balls spacing well apart onto a 10 x 15-inch greased baking sheet (2 balls across and 4 balls down).
• Cover and let rise 30-40 minutes.
• Bake at 375 for about 22 minutes or until light golden brown.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, shortening, egg yolks, sugar and salt and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate overnight., In a large saucepan, cook plums in water 12-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Mash; add sugar and lemon juice. Cook for 8-10 minutes over low heat until thickened. Cool and refrigerate., Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 3-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Dot with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon. Spread about 1/3 cup plum filling down the center of each. , Fold a third of the dough lengthwise over filling. Fold remaining dough over top; pinch seams to seal and tuck ends under. Place seam side down in two greased 15x10x1-in. baking pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until doubled. , Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over loaves.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix together 1 cup white sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 cup melted butter, and 3 eggs. Mix and add 1/2 pint sour cream. Mix together yeast with warm milk and 1 teaspoon sugar. Add to mixture. Add flour. Mix and knead. Divide dough into 7 equal parts.
• To Make Filling: Melt 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons butter. Add 2 cups sugar and stir to dissolve. Add to ground walnuts and mix until coated. Add ground cinnamon and vanilla extract to taste, if desired. Divide filling into 7 equal amounts.
• Roll each dough ball into rectangle. Spread slightly beaten egg white on top of dough. Spread equal amounts of filling on top of each rectangle. Roll in edges and spread edges with egg whites to seal. Then roll length wise. Brush tops with egg whites.
• Bake in a 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) preheated oven for 30 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool. These freeze well.

Steps:

• 1 In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the shortening and butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 2 In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with two tablespoons of the milk. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until the dough is evenly moistened. If needed, blend in a little more milk. 3 Gather the dough into a ball and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten it into a disk and wrap well. Refrigerate 1 hour up to overnight. 4 Process the nuts and sugar in a food processor. Process until fine. Add the honey, zest, and cinnamon, and process until blended. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 2 large baking sheets. 5 Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out one piece between two sheets of plastic wrap to form a square slightly larger than 8 inches. Trim the edges and cut the dough into 2-inch squares. Place a heaping teaspoon of the filling along one side of each square. Roll up the dough to enclose the filling completely. Place seam-side down on the baking pan. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling, placing the cookies 1 inch apart. 6 Bake 18 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Store in a tightly sealed container up to 2 weeks. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving. From "1,000 Italian Recipes." Copyright 2004 by Michele Scicolone. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.