Ashkenazi, Desserts, Parve

Nut Rolls to Fill That Empty Freezer

Nut rolls

Now that the Jewish high holidays are over, we can breathe a sigh of relief. The cooking marathon is over. Alas, our freezers are empty and we have nothing to serve our guests and grandchildren when they come to visit.

Enter nut roll cakes to the rescue. The cake rolls aren’t difficult to make, and they make a lot. You can fill your freezer with these Eastern European treats, if you can keep from eating them all!

After you set them up, you’ve got three full hours to do something else, as the rolls need a long rising. Put your feet up and relax, is my advice. You’ve earned the right.

Nut Rolls

Yield: 6 rolls, around 6 dozen slices

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 1 tsp sugar
  • ½ cup warm water
  • 2 oz, fresh yeast or 2 packets (4 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast
  • 4 eggs
  • 10 oz. parve sour cream
  • 1 1/3 cup margarine (I use Nutrina coconut because the texture is better), melted and cooled
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 6-7 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

  • 2 lb. walnuts (finely ground)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ½ cups margarine, melted and cooled
  • 3/4 cup parve milk
  • ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Egg Wash:

  • 2 eggs, beaten

Method:

  1. Mix warm water, 1 tsp. sugar, and yeast
  2. In a large bowl combine eggs, parve sour cream, margarine, 2/3 c sugar and vanilla, salt and yeast mixture. Mix well.
  3. Add 4 c flour and begin to knead. Add flour until the dough is soft, but not sticky.
  4. Cut dough into 6 equal pieces
  5. Mix all filling ingredients together in a large bowl
  6. Roll dough out into 6 9×14 rectangles and spread each rectangle of dough with 1/6 of the filling leaving a 1” margin all around.
  7. Fold in the short sides from ½-1”, roll up snugly lengthwise.
  8. Let rolls rise covered 3 HOURS
  9. Brush with beaten egg
  10. Bake 2 rolls at a time on baking trays 20-25 min, or until lightly browned, at 350˚ F.