Walnut Filling Recipes

Steps:

• Dough: Dissolve yeast in milk with sugar. Add butter, salt, and egg yolks.
• Stirring to mix. Add 2 cups flour and mix well, add remaining flour. Knead 5 minutes.
• Divide dough into 3-4 parts, cover and let rise while preparing filling.
• Filling: Heat all ingredients in a sauce pan until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Roll out each portion of dough to an 1/8 inch thickness in a rectangle shape. Spread an equal amount of filling on each portion on dough. Roll up jelly roll fashion and let raise 15-20 minutes.
• Brush with egg whites before baking. (I accidentally forgot to do this one year and have decided we like it better without the egg wash.) Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
• Once cool, top with icing, if desired.
• Icing: Cream butter and egg yolk. Then add confectioner's sugar a cup at a time beating on medium speed. Add vanilla and milk 1 Tbls. at a time and beat on high until fluffy.

Steps:

• 1. For the dough, place the flour, semolina, margarine, and oil in a food processor equipped with a steel blade. Add the water gradually, pulsing until a soft dough is formed. Cover and set aside for 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator.
• 2. For the filling, combine the walnuts with the cinnamon and sugar.
• 3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• 4. Either use the ma'amoul mold described above or take a piece of dough about the size of a walnut. Roll it into a ball and hollow out the center. Inside, place a heaping teaspoon of walnut filling. With your hands, mold the dough closed.
• Continue with the rest of the dough.
• 5. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. With the tines of a fork or tweezers with a serrated edge, make designs on the top of each cookie, being sure not to penetrate the crust.
• 6. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Do not brown; the cookies should look white. Cool. When hard, roll in confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cut butter and cream cheese into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Blend mixture together until smooth dough forms, about 3 minutes. Pat into a rectangle; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. For filling, combine the walnuts, sugar, milk and vanilla. , Unwrap dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 17-1/2x10-in. rectangle; cut into 2-1/2-in. squares. Place a level teaspoonful of filling in the center of each square. Moisten edges with water; fold in half and seal with a fork. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Brush with egg. , Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Cook walnuts with milk and flour.
• Mix well with the egg yolks.
• Cream butter with the sugar; add to the walnut mixture.

Steps:

• Combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until very thick.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in walnuts and salt until combined. Beat in chocolate. Use immediately.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a baking pan toast walnuts in one layer in middle of oven 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly colored, and cool completely. Mince garlic and discard stems from spinach.
• Have ready a large bowl of ice and cold water. In a 3-quart kettle half filled with boiling salted water blanch spinach 20 seconds and with a slotted skimmer transfer to ice water to stop cooking. Return water to a boil and blanch fresh coriander and parsley 5 seconds. Drain herbs in a colander and transfer to ice water to stop cooking. Drain spinach and herbs in colander and squeeze in small handfuls until as dry as possible.
• In a food processor pulse walnuts just until finely ground. Add garlic, spinach mixture, and remaining ingredients and pulse just until smooth. (Filling may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.)

Steps:

• Beat the egg whites and add the ground walnuts and white sugar. Mix well. Place about 1 teaspoon of filling on each square.

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together onto a sheet of waxed paper.
• Beat 1/4 cup white sugar, butter, and cream cheese together in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla.
• Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined. Divide dough into 3 equal portions; shape each portion into a disk, wrap disks in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Beat egg white in a bowl with an electric mixture until frothy. Mix walnuts and 1/2 cup white sugar into egg white.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove dough from plastic wrap and roll each disk out into a 7-inch circle. Spread 1/3 the egg white mixture onto each dough circle, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edge of each circle. Cut each circle into 12 wedges. Roll up each wedge from the edge to the point and place, point-side down, on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Dough Mixing and First Rise
• Scald the milk in a pan on the stove or in a glass bowl in the microwave, bringing it up to 180°F.
• Cut the butter in pieces and add it to the milk to melt the butter and cool the milk. Then add the sugar, half-egg, and salt.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, whisk together the ground nutmeg, instant yeast, and flour (start with the smaller amount). You can add the reserved flour if needed, but only if your dough is very damp and sticky.
• Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together and is smooth.
• Cover the bowl and let the dough rise somewhere warm, in a lit oven or on a raisenne dough riser for 1½-2 hours. The dough should double in size.
• FIlling Prep
• While the dough is rising, grind the walnuts and sugar in a food processor. Add the cinnamon afterward, so it doesn't poof through the seams of your food processor. Do not add the butter. If you don't have a food processor, you can put in the nuts in a ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin.
• Melt the butter in a glass bowl on low power in the microwave.
• Pastry Shaping
• Prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• When the dough has doubled, scrape it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface.
• Roll it into a square that's roughly 12" x 12" and 1/4" thick. Before topping the dough, make sure you can slide it around the countertop. Flour and flip the dough if you can't.
• Brush on the melted butter, leaving a 1/2" strip at the top side free of butter to later seal the roll. If it seems like you have too much butter, hold some back and drizzle it on after you've added the absorbent nuts-sugar-cinnamon.
• Spread all the nut mixture on the butter as evenly as possible.
• Roll the dough toward the bare strip and rest it briefly on the seam.
• Lift the roll of dough, gently stretch it a bit lengthwise, and place it on the baking sheet, seam down.
• Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour.
• Baking
• Preheat your oven to 350°F for about 15 minutes.
• Just before putting the pastry in the oven, brush the dough with the reserved beaten egg.
• Bake for 45 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet if needed for even browning.
• Let the walnut roll cool on a rack at least 20 minutes before serving.

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:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line mini muffin pans with paper liners.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter and flour until a dough forms. Roll into 1 inch balls and press them into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared muffin cups.
• In a small bowl, blend together the egg, butter, vanilla and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in walnuts. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups, but do not fill all the way to the top or the mixture will bubble over.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crusts are golden.

Steps:

• Stir white sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and salt into hot milk in a small bowl until butter is melted and mixture is lukewarm. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, sprinkle yeast over warm water; stir to dissolve.
• Stir milk mixture into yeast mixture. Add 2 eggs and 2 1/2 cups of the flour; beat on high until combined. With mixer on low, add remaining 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time.
• Switch to the dough hook; mix until dough leaves sides of bowl, about 5 minutes. Set dough in a large, lightly greased bowl, turning dough to coat top. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Prepare walnut filling while dough rises. Lightly beat 3 eggs in a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Fold in walnuts.
• Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a large, lightly floured surface, cover with the bowl, and let rest 10 minutes. Line three 9x5-inch loaf pans with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides.
• Divide dough into thirds; roll each third out to a 12-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Spoon 1/3 of the walnut filling onto each dough square and spread to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Roll up each square tightly as for a jelly roll. Pinch ends and seams closed to seal. With your palms, roll logs back and forth until uniformly round.
• With a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut 1 log in half lengthwise to form 2 striped strands. Working quickly, twist strands loosely together with cut sides facing out, making 2 or 3 wide, horizontal twists. Fit into one of the prepared pans, patting back any loose filling and tucking ends under, if needed. It might look like a mess now, but it comes out beautifully!
• Repeat with remaining logs and pans. Cover pans with a towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Loaves should not rise above top edges of pans.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Brush loaf tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter.
• Bake loaves until puffed, well browned, and a thermometer inserted in centers registers 200 degrees F (93 degrees C), 35 to 45 minutes. Tent with foil if tops brown before loaves are done. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then use parchment to lift from pans and transfer to a wire rack.
• Cool completely, about 1 hour. Glaze if desired, then slice crosswise to serve.