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Nut Rolls (P, TNT)
Source: Grandma Eleanor
Yield: 1 shoebox full

Rolls:
13-1/2 cups of flour
1 package dry yeast
6 tablespoons warm water
3 cups shortening
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
Little less than 1/2 cup of honey
Seltzer (optional)
3/4 cup orange juice
3 tbsp. lemon juice
9 egg yolks

Filling:
1 cup nuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
Dash salt
Dash cinnamon

First, mix the yeast and water.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar and salt. Rub in shortening with hands until crumbly.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.

Add to the proofed yeast the honey, orange juice, lemon juice, and egg yolks. Put the mixture in the well in the flour and mix until you have a soft dough. You can add seltzer to make it a good texture dough.

Make the dough into balls, put it in the fridge for about an hour. Roll out the dough, spread with honey, sprinkle on the nut mixture, roll it up into a log.

Bake at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes.

You can either bake the logs whole, and then slice when it's time to eat them, which will result in softer cookies (my sister's favorite), or you can slice the roll into 1" thick slices, brush on some egg to make them a nice dark color, and bake them sliced which will make them slightly more crunchy (my favorite).

Poster's Notes:
Here's the background to the recipe. Recipe was my mother's mother (Grandma Eleanor). Every summer, when we went away to sleepaway camp, we'd get a box from Pittsburgh (where she lived) that contained a shoebox full of nut rolls. Yes, a shoebox lined with wax paper. And quite frequently throughout the year, we'd get a box at my parent's house as well. That was my grandmother's favorite mode to send the cookies when she made them.

So now, whenever my extended family is together (which isn't often), if there's a shoebox in the kitchen, we know what's coming :)

It's somewhat of a patchkee, and quite a large recipe, so gather your family together. Extra hands go a long way.

Posted by Judith Gellerstein

Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A