Filled Walnut-Shaped Cookies Recipe
By Ben Mims
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Easy
This recipe is extracted from Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World by Ben Mims is published by Phaidon (photography by Simon Bajada)
These whimsical cookies may get their names from the Russian word for “walnuts,” but there are no walnuts in them. The name comes from their shape, complete with the ridges and grooves from the nut’s exterior shell. These cookies are a twentieth-century invention of industrious home cooks during Soviet-era scarcity who were forced to be more creative with inexpensive, shelf-stable ingredients like vinegar, mayonnaise, and sweetened condensed milk. An eggy, wafer-like dough is cooked in a special waffle iron-like pan to create the two halves of the “walnuts.” Then the two are filled and sandwiched together with sguschonka, sweetened condensed milk that’s boiled until caramelized (also known as dulce de leche). Some recipes now include the cookie’s namesake nut in the filling.
The popularity of these cookies extends throughout former Soviet and neighbouring countries. They’re well known in Georgia, and in Ukraine, they’re called horishky. In Romania, they go by nuci umplute and are typically filled with chocolate ganache instead of dulce de leche. Further afield, they’re known in Tunisia as zouza—their appearance most likely due to favourable Russia-Tunisia diplomatic relations that began in the late 1950s. Oreshki are made with hinged “oreshnitsa” pans with walnut-shaped divots that are 3 cm long; they can be found online.
Try Ben's recipe for Olive Oil and Honey Cookies or Chocolate & Spice Cookies!
Ingredients for Filled Walnut-Shaped Cookies
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 370 g all-purpose (plain) flour
- 500 g dulce de leche repostero, store-bought or homemade, or Nutella
How to make Filled Walnut-Shaped Cookies
- In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy and light, 1–2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the mayonnaise, vanilla, and salt and beat until evenly incorporated.
- In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda until it fizzes. Pour into the bowl and beat until smooth. Add the flour and stir until a dough forms and there are no dry patches of flour remaining.
- Place an oreshnitsa iron over medium heat on your stove. Using a scant 1-teaspoon measure, portion the dough into small balls. Open the iron and place one dough ball in each divot in the iron. Close the iron and let cook until the dough spreads to fill the divots and sets, 6–8 minutes, depending on the heat of your stove.
- Open the iron and invert it over a tea towel so the cookies fall out, using the tip of a table knife to nudge the cookies from the moulds, if needed. Repeat filling the iron with dough balls and cooking cookies. As with making waffles or pancakes, the heat will ebb and flow under the iron, so remove the iron from the heat while loading in dough balls and return it to the heat once they’re filled, so the iron doesn’t overheat.
- When all the cookies are done, use your fingers or a paring knife to trim away the excess cooked batter from the shells so they have clean edges. Fill each shell flush with dulce de leche—about 1 teaspoon each—then sandwich two shells together to form the “walnuts.”
- Process any cooked cookie scraps in a food processor until the consistency of breadcrumbs, then roll the seams of each oreshki in the crumbs to stick to any dulce de leche seeping out before serving.
About the author
Ben Mims, author of Crumbs, is a baking expert known for turning complex recipes into approachable delights. With his background as a food editor and a passion for all things sweet, Mims shares inventive, flavour-packed creations that make home baking accessible and endlessly enjoyable.
