Sweet nuts with condensed milk filling

Crush the nuts in a blender (if you are using them).

Melt the butter and let it cool down until warm.

Separate the yolks from whites.

Place the yolks into a whisking bowl, and whisk until light and fluffy.

Start adding sugar gradually, while continuing whisking…

… … until all sugar is added and the mixture looks like this.

… and salt…

… and lemon juice…

… and baking soda…

… and add it into the main bowl. Adding soda over lemon juice will create a chemical reaction. Mix all the ingredients well in.

Start sifting the flour in, – gradually, as you may need not all of it. First, sift in about 1/3 of the flour…

… and mix it in with a spatula.

Then sift in another 1/3 of the flour…

… and mix it into the batter. By now, the batter will look like this.

Gradually, sift about half of the leftover flour in…

… and continue mixing it into the batter. At some point, you would need to dust your hand with some flour and continue kneading by hand.

Keep adding the flour in until your dough is still very soft, but doesn’t stick to your hands. When it looks just like this, you would know it’s ready.
Wrap the dough into some cling film and put in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
(Also, if you are using a mould and oven – you should start pre-heating your oven to 200 C).

… take some pieces of the dough, approx. 5 g each…

… and place them into the mould, gently pressing with your finger like this, creating the “nutshells”. Make sure the dough spreads inside each cavity the  in the mould evenly.

 

Once you have filled all the cavities in the mould…

… gently pierce the “nutshells” with a cocktail stick.

Bake at 200 C for 10 to 15 minutes.

Once the first part of the “nutshells” is ready, let it cool down.

Gently take each “nutshell” out of the mould, using a cocktail stick, place them into a dish and put aside.
Bake another part of “nutshells” in the same way, until you have used all the dough.

Now, time to make the filling.
I am using Ukrainian boiled condensed milk for the filling. If it’s not available where you are, you can use dulce de leche, the popular Latin American confection.

Place the softened butter and boiled condensed milk (both should be of room temperature) into a bowl…

… and mix them well together with a whisk, until fully combined.

Add the crushed nuts, if you’re using them, and mix together.

Once the filling is ready and the nutshells are cooled, fill one shell with the filling…

… and cover with another nut shell, “gluing” them together.

Carefully remove the surplus of the filling from the sides with a teaspoon.

And your “nuts” are ready! 🙂 This amount of dough would make 30 to 40 “nuts”, depending on how big the cavities in the mould are.

They are delicious – crispy with soft creamy filling, and make a perfect treat to enjoy with tea or coffee. Enjoy!