nut roll

Cozonac is a gently sweet bread, a little like challah or brioche, often with a pretty and tasty swirl of nut filling, like in this walnut roll recipe. It&#x27;s traditionally made for Easter but would be perfect with coffee any time.

Cozonac Walnut Roll (Romanian Easter Bread)

milk

sugar

lemon

(75 grams) butter

(350 grams) all purpose flour

Tbsp yeast

tsp salt

tsp vanilla extract

(3 ounces 85 grams) walnut pieces

Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Tbsp sugar

egg (will not use all)

tsp raw sugar (approx)

Warm the milk, sugar and lemon zest in...

Warm the milk, sugar and lemon zest in a small pan over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the butter, in small pieces. Stir to melt the butter in the heat of the liquid. Allow to cool until lukewarm (80-90F).

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl add the yeast...

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl add the yeast and salt to the flour and mix through. Also, separate the egg whites from the egg yolks into two small bowls. Chill the whites until needed later.

Once the milk mixture has cooled, transfer it...

Once the milk mixture has cooled, transfer it to a large bowl. Add the flour mixture, egg yolks and vanilla. Mix to bring the dough together, then knead the dough for a few minutes. (You can either mix with a spoon, then knead for a couple minutes with a stand mixer, or mix by hand and knead on a lightly floured surface for around five minutes.) Once kneaded into a smooth dough, bring the dough together in a ball.

Lightly oil a bowl and add the dough....

Lightly oil a bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic or a damp tea towel and allow to rise at a warm room temperature for around an hour, until doubled in size.

Towards the end of the rising time, blend...

Towards the end of the rising time, blend the walnuts, sugar and cocoa powder together in a food processor to form a coarse powder. Separately, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then fold in the nut mixture. Chill until needed.

Once the dough has risen, remove from the...

Once the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and divide into two roughly even pieces. Take one of the pieces of dough, gently knock it back to reduce in size a little, then roll it into a square/rectangle roughly 11 inches square, or slightly longer in one direction.

Take half of the nut filling mixture and...

Take half of the nut filling mixture and spread it over the flattened dough, leaving around 1/2 in without the filling around the edges. Roll up into a log (as you would a cinnamon roll - you can roll either long or short edge, as you prefer, if you made it more rectangle-shaped). Don't make the roll too tight as you want to allow a bit of space for it to expand. 

Repeat with the other piece of dough and...

Repeat with the other piece of dough and filling.

Grease a loaf tin with butter. Take the...

Grease a loaf tin with butter. Take the two rolls of dough and twist them together all the way down. Carefully, place the twist in the loaf tin, tucking the ends under slightly, if needed. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise until it has almost doubled, roughly an hour again. (It may not fill out the tin but that is fine, it will expand more on baking).

Just before it is ready to bake, preheat...

Just before it is ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Brush the top of the loaf with a lightly beaten egg, then sprinkle some raw sugar over the wash. 

Bake the loaf in the middle-bottom of the...

Bake the loaf in the middle-bottom of the preheated oven for approximately 35-45 minutes, until it is golden brown on top and cooked through. 

Allow to cool slightly before removing from the...

Allow to cool slightly before removing from the pan to cool completely.

One Rise Nut Rolls (and Poppy Seed)

sour cream

butter (softened)

baking soda

salt

all-purpose flour

(2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast (or rapid-rise dry yeast)

eggs (room temperature, beaten)

walnuts (ground finely to a meal-like consistency)

egg (room temperature)

butter

poppy seeds

white sugar

butter, melted

lemon juice

In a large saucepan, warm sour cream (just enough for butter to melt when added and allow the mixture to cool down to 120F degrees). Remove from heat and stir in 3 tablespoons butter, 5 tablespoons sugar, baking soda and salt. Cool to 120F degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

While sour cream mixture is cooling, in a large bowl, whisk together flour and yeast. Add eggs to cooled sour cream mixture and then transfer to flour-yeast mixture.

Mix with hands until a sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly to form a smooth ball. (Or mix in stand mixer and knead to smooth ball.)

Cover with an overturned bowl or greased plastic wrap and let rest 10 minutes.

The dough will be soft. Divide in half. Working with one piece of dough at a time and using as little extra flour as possible, roll to a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle. Spread with half of the filling leaving a 1/2 border along both short side edges and top long edge un-spread (to help with sealing).

Fold the short side edges of the dough in slightly to hold in filling and then roll from the bottom up. Lightly pinch dough along long edge to seal seam. Place seam side down on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Allow to rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, covered with greased plastic, until light and slightly puffed.

While rising, heat oven to 350F degrees.

Bake 35 minutes. Let cool on pan 10 minutes, then transfer from sheet pan to a cooling rack to cool completely before cutting into slices.

Wrap leftover tightly in foil or plastic wrap.

In a medium nonstick saucepan, mix together walnuts, milk, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 egg and 4 ounces butter. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat and simmer on medium-low, stirring frequently (watch and stir carefully so the filling doesn't burn), until mixture is thick.

Cool completely before spreading on dough, but do not refrigerate or filling will become too firm to spread.

Nut Filling

Place poppy seeds into a food processor and process until seeds are ground, about 1 minute.

Mix poppy seeds with 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon melted butter, lemon juice, and hot milk in a bowl; stir to combine.

Cover poppy seed filling and refrigerate while making bread (filling will set up and thicken as it chills).

Poppy Seed Filling

When it&#039;s time to bring a taste of Europe to your home for the holidays, Potica a Slovenian classic will add a touch of Eastern Europe to your table. 

Potica - Traditional Slovenian Nut Roll

yeast

water

eggs

½ cups unsifted all-purpose flour

(1lb) walnuts, (finely chopped)

brown sugar (packed)

butter (melted)

vanilla bean paste

cinnamon (optional)

Stir the sugar, salt and ¼ cup butter into hot milk.Cool to lukewarm. (a drop on your wrist won’t feel hot)

Sprinkle the yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve.

Stir in lukewarm milk mixture to the yeast mixture.

Add 2 eggs and 2 ½ cups flour to the yeast mixture. Use a wooden spoon to mix in the ingredients until smooth.

Gradually add in the remaining 2 cups flour; knead by hand until the dough is stiff enough to leave the side of the bowl.

Place the dough in a lightly greased large bowl. Turn dough over – greased side up – and cover with a towel.

Let the dough rise in warm place (85F) free from drafts, until doubled in size – about an hour.

Dough

In a medium bowl beat the eggs slightly. Add the walnuts, brown sugar, ⅓ cup of melted butter, cinnamon and vanilla.Stir until well blended and set aside until needed.

Filling

When the dough has risen, punch it down and turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Cover the dough with a bowl and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough out to a 30×20” rectangle.

Spread the walnut filling on top of the dough, leaving 1 inch of the edge uncovered around the entire dough.

Starting from the wide side, begin rolling up the dough tightly (jellyroll style). Seal by pinching the edges of dough with your fingers.

On a large greased cookie sheet or seasoned baking stone, form the roll into a large coil.

Let the potica rise in a warm place (85F), covered with a towel, for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Brush the potica with 2 Tablespoons of melted butter.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack before cutting.

Assembly

this is similar to my family's version but no lemon zest.

I have my Slovenian grandmas recipe and her special pans and luckily I watched her make it a couple of times. I make it at least once a year and have I think have finally figured it out. It’s a labor of love, for sure. My recipe makes 3 loaves.   Filling is made with ground walnuts, honey, sugar, butter, evap milk, vanilla, eggs and a bit of cinnamon.

My grandparents were from Slovenia. This was a staple at our house for the holidayz.  I was determined to make it for this 2020 holiday season.  I made a few adjustments to suit my dietary preferences. I used almond milk, egg whites in a carton, and Land of Lakes margarine. It turned out well, Loved how my house smelled while baking it. Brought back memories. This will be my go to recipe for Potica.

Just like my Grandma's - Thanks so much for this recipe!

https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1663721035/qa80fxjcmnhyqo2rmotk.mp4

Potica (pronounced po-teet-sah), is a Slovenian (Croatian / Yugoslavian) nut roll that is traditionally made for Easter and Christmas. But it's a wonderful treat, any time of the year.

Authentic Potica  (Traditional Slovenian Nut Roll)

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Cozonac Walnut Roll (Romanian Easte...

One Rise Nut Rolls (and Poppy Seed)

Potica - Traditional Slovenian Nut ...

Top 3 nut roll recipes from across the web

The most viewed nut roll recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Cozonac Walnut Roll (Romanian Easte...

One Rise Nut Rolls (and Poppy Seed)

Potica - Traditional Slovenian Nut ...

The most viewed nut roll recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine