Nazook | A Walnut Filled Armenian Pastry

Nazook is a buttery and slightly sweet pastry rolled around a walnut, flour, and butter filling that has been flavored with vanilla and cardamom. 

This month, the Bread Baking Babes are making Nazook. Nazook you ask? It's a pastry made with flour, lots of butter, and lots of sour cream, and then filled with a buttery walnut, cardamom, and vanilla filling. Butter. Yes. There is a lot of butter in these. Is this a problem?

This Nazook is slightly sweet, but not overly so. You make the dough in advance, and refrigerate it to develop flavor. The dough is pretty sticky when you mix it, so refrigerating it also makes it easier to handle.

Nazook is an Armenian or Assyrian pastry. This recipe was discovered by Kelly of A Messy Kitchen, our Bread Baking Babes host this month, in the book Mom's Authentic Assyrian Recipes Cookbook.

The secret ingredient in these pastries is the walnut filling. It's a delicious mixture of chopped walnuts, flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, and cardamom. You spread it on the rolled out dough and then roll the dough into a log.

You then slice the log into little pastries for baking. Be prepared for you kitchen to smell divine.

These are wonderful warm from the oven. They are also great reheated for 15 to 20 seconds in the microwave. They last for a few days in an airtight container, and also freeze well.

After the recipe, check out how the rest of the Babes fared with their Nazooks.

Yield: 48 pastries

Nazook Recipe

ingredients:

Dough

• 390 grams (3 1/4 cups) sifted flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 226 grams (1 cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg
• 12 grams (1 tablespoon) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 227 grams (1 cup) sour cream

Filling

• 240 grams (2 cups) sifted flour
• 198 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 113 grams (1 cup) walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 226 grams salted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Egg Wash

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon milk, yogurt, or water

instructions:

To Make the Dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour and mix in the yeast and salt. 
2. Add the butter, and mix on low until the mixture gets crumbly. 
3. Add the egg, oil, lemon juice, and sour cream and mix until incorporated. 
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and mix by hand for five minutes. Alternatively, you can mix with the dough hook for about three minutes (this is what I did). 
5. Place the dough into an oiled bowl or container, cover, and refrigerate for 5 to 12 hours. 

Filling

1. Mix the flour, sugar, walnuts, and cardamom in a medium/large bowl. 
2. Stir the vanilla into the melted butter, and pour the mixture over the flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth. It will get crumbly as it cools. This is fine. 

Assembly

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. I used a scale. 
3. Cover the dough pieces you are not working with with plastic wrap (I placed the ones I was not working with back in the refrigerator. 
4. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper (I also lightly floured the parchment) into a 10 inch by 6 inch rectangle. Spread 1/8 of the filling over the rectangle, leaving a 1/2 inch border. 
5. Fold the border over the filling (see photo above) and, starting with the longer side, roll the dough into a log. Lightly flatten the log with you hands. 
6. Using a bench knife, cut the log into 6 pieces and place them on the parchment lined baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough pieces. Each baking sheet should hold 24 pastries. Once one baking sheet is filled, brush each pastry with the egg wash and bake them while you assemble the rest of the nazooks on the second baking sheet. 
7. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. 

http://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2018/03/nazook-walnut-filled-armenian-pastry.html

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• Bake My Day - Karen
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna