Soviet nuts with condensed milk

Description

Soviet "nuts" with condensed milk are probably known to everyone who found the times of the USSR. Sometimes such a delicacy could be bought in a store, but this was rather an outstanding event. Basically, “nuts” were prepared at home, most often, for one reason or another. The fact is that the filling of this cake consisted of condensed milk, which then still had to be managed to buy. And so, when the “stars converged”, mother or grandmother solemnly announced the preparation of nuts for her birthday / New Year / March 8 or another significant holiday. The base, the "shells", were baked in heavy aluminum molds, which, to pay tribute to the solidity of Soviet production, are still alive in many families to this day. Therefore, if you have one left from your grandmother (mother) or in the kitchen there is a modern appliance with a panel for “nuts”, be sure to cook them according to this very detailed recipe.

Cooking

Step 1

In advance (2-3 hours before cooking), remove the butter for dough and cream of nuts from the refrigerator so that it becomes very soft, creamy, or soften it in the microwave immediately before cooking.

Step 2

Prepare two large aluminum baking sheets (21 x 32 cm, 5 cm high) (I have 1 and 2 small ones 17.5 x 27.5 cm, 4 cm high each) or any other similar size that you have in your available, and forms for baking "Nuts".

Step 3

Prepare cream. To do this, warm the walnuts in a pan in the oven for 5-8 minutes or an open fire (in this case, stirring constantly) for 3-5 minutes. Then cool the nuts, gently grind with your hands to remove excess husks from them if possible, and chop in a blender into small or medium grains.

Step 4

In a fairly large clean bowl (about 3 liters in volume), beat the softened butter until fluffy with a mixer with regular whisks for 2-3 minutes. Then 1 tbsp. spoon with a small slide (about 40-50 g each), start adding boiled condensed milk, each time quickly but gently mixing it into the butter at high speed of the mixer until a homogeneous mass is formed. Don't delay the process. As a result, the cream for nuts should turn out to be thick, with a relief pattern on the surface that firmly holds its shape.

Step 5

Add the nuts to the cream, mix gently with a spoon, then cover the container with the cream with plastic wrap and refrigerate until consumed.

Step 6

Start preparing the dough nuts. To do this, measure the amount of wheat flour and granulated sugar required according to the recipe for the dough into separate containers, adding salt to the latter.

Step 7

Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs by hand or using a separator, while laying the yolks in a large bowl for kneading the dough. Proteins in the recipe for nuts are not needed.

Step 8

Beat the yolks with sugar and salt with a mixer with ordinary whisks until a fluffy whitish foam forms, then put soft butter on them, mix and add sour cream. Mix everything again until smooth and change the whisks on the mixer to whisks for yeast dough.

Step 9

Enter 150 g of wheat flour into the mixture, sifting it through a sieve and slowly mixing with a mixer, then add soda, quenched with a small amount of lemon juice, and immediately knead the dough of nuts again.

Step 10

Pour another 150 g of flour into the dough of nuts (also through a sieve), stir in with a mixer, and then add the rest of the flour, already mixing it with your hands until smooth. As a result, the dough should turn out to be loose, crumbling and well behind the hands.

Step 11

Put the third part of the dough nuts on the table, knead with your hands into a plump rectangle, and then roll it out with a rolling pin (periodically trimming it with your hands) into a layer 4-5 mm thick. Cut out ovals from it with the help of molds, place each oval inside the corresponding mold and, pressing it well, press it with your fingers (so that the dough penetrates all the grooves of the mold, and the finished cookie has a relief pattern on the surface). Do this carefully so that the thickness of future “shells” is approximately the same everywhere, but do not delay the molding process, otherwise oil will begin to stand out from the dough. Place the finished molds with the dough on the baking sheet(s) with the dough up, and collect the remaining pieces on the table from a third of the dough into a pile, again knead with your hands into a rectangle, roll it out with a rolling pin (as described above) and place in the remaining free molds (if any). If all the forms are occupied or more forms do not fit on the baking sheet, leave the dough on the table or put it in a bowl with two-thirds of the dough set aside earlier (see the beginning of step 11 of the recipe).

Step 12

Remove the blanks of nuts on a baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes (without closing anything). At this time, turn on the oven and heat it to 3.8 (about 190 ° C) or in accordance with the recommendations for baking shortcrust pastry according to the instructions for your oven. Then remove the baking sheet from the freezer with blanks and immediately place it in a preheated oven. Bake at 3.8 (190°C) for about 20 minutes until the shells are lightly golden. After 10-15 minutes after the start of baking, you can turn the baking sheet in the oven on the other side so that the cookie blanks are baked at the same time. And at this time, make the next portion of the blanks, as described above.

Step 13

Remove the baking sheet with ready-made “shells” from the oven, and in its place place the second one with new blanks (do not forget to cool them in the freezer before) and bake as indicated in step 12.

Step 14

Let the baked halves of the "shells" of nuts cool at room temperature for 10-15 minutes right in the molds, then carefully remove them by tapping the edge of each mold on the table or gently prying the shell with a knife. Lay the shell halves on a flat plate or other flat surface with the convex side up.

Step 15

When all the halves of the nuts are baked and they have completely cooled down, fill them with the previously prepared cream with a teaspoon (about ½ teaspoon of cream is used for each “shell”). Pair the "shells" filled with cream into whole nuts, squeezing each one lightly so that it grabs (do this carefully so that the cookies do not crack). For each nut, remove the protruding remains of the cream with a spoon, and then put it in a clean container. When all the nuts are ready, cover the container with them with food plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator until completely cooled (preferably at least 12 hours), so that the cream finally hardens and the “nuts” firmly “grab”.

Step 16

Serve ready-made "nuts" to the table, putting the required amount on a serving plate immediately before serving (so that they do not melt), and store the rest in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 5-6 ° C under food plastic wrap for no more than 2-3 days.