walnut-cookies-oreshki-

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Walnut cookies, (aka “Oreshki”) continue to be a treat in the Russian culture, they’re that good! Buying a good mold and making this crisp, 4 ingredient shortbread cookie dough should complete your search to the perfect walnut cookie! Find out all about the walnut cookie molds and more, here!

There are tons of walnut cookie recipes out there, and maybe there are some good ones, but in all my oreshki making, this one out beats them all! The cookie shells turn out so tender, and almost melt in your mouth flaky! The cream makes the perfect thick and delicious filling, cutting down the sweetness of the dulce de leche and it’s all possible with a mold of your choice.

walnut-cookies-oreshki-

Where do I find the perfect walnut cookie or oreshki mold?

I think the oven mold is the best option for a walnut or oreshki mold.  It holds 40 perfect sized shells in one mold and no other molds offer that. This is what I use and I love it! It’s a challenge to get a hold of them since they’re not available on Amazon or trusted retailers, but if you are in need you can visit nakkitchen.com and shoot them an email. Once they contact you, you’re able to place an order and go from there.

Stove-top oreshki molds.

A stove-top oreshki cookie mold is old school but probably the quickest way to make a batch. Since direct heat is being used, the mold can make walnut cookies in about 6 minutes per batch. Although you have to deal with heat more frequently, keep in mind it’s made for gas stoves and the molds are prone to leakages during the cooking process.

Individual oreshki molds.

You can buy individual walnut cookie molds on Amazon but the overall idea can sound kind of dreadful since you would need to make around 156 cookie shells for this recipe. If you invest in at least 80 of them the process should go faster otherwise, you would have to wait for the cookie shells to slightly cool, which can make the overall process lengthy. These shells can also run slightly larger than an electric or oven mold but can make for a heartier cookie.

Oreshki electric mold.

Electric molds for walnut cookies can hold anywhere from 12 to 24 shells in one unit. Some things to keep in mind are to probably stick to recipes designed for this unit and the size of the shells. The shell sizes seem to run slightly smaller than some other molds and that makes for lesser filling capacity.

Autumn Cakelet Pan for walnut cookies.

Let the baking begin has made her oreshki cookies using this Nordic ware Autumn Cakelet Pan with successful results but one thing to be aware of is that these make large cookies. Amazon is currently sold out of them but keep an eye out on eBay if you like cute different shaped cookie molds like this one! 

walnut-cookies-oreshki-

Walnut Cookies Recipe-Oreshki with dulce de leche filling

yields: approx 156 shells and 78 whole walnut cookies assembled

Ingredients for walnut cookies:

  • 4 sticks plus 3 TBSP of unsalted butter, softened (that’s 500 grams of butter)
  • 6 hard-boiled egg yolks ONLY, grated
  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

  • 1 1/2 cans of dulce de leche
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 oz soft cream cheese
  • 1 TBSP apricot preserves

How to make walnut cookies:

  1. Beat together the cooked grated egg yolks, softened butter, and sugar. Add the flour and knead together until a soft dough forms. (Dough should resemble a soft play-dough like dough and not stick to your fingers.)
  2. Shape dough into little balls using a teaspoon measuring scoop. Press the balls into the oven mold and bake cookies 25 minutes in a preheated 375°F oven.
  3. Let cookies cool 3 minutes before removing from the mold (these are fragile when hot but once slightly cooled they harden.) Repeat process.
  4. TO MAKE FILLING: Beat together all the filling ingredients just until combined.
  5. Fill each cookie half with the filling and join every two shells together. Chill after assembling and dust with powdered sugar for garnish.

Walnut Cookies-Oreshki

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 78 assembled cookies
Author: Alyona's Cooking
Walnut cookies, (aka "Oreshki") continue to be a treat in the Russian culture, they're that good! Buying a good mold and making this crisp, 4 ingredient shortbread cookie dough should complete your search to the perfect walnut cookie! Find out all about the walnut cookie molds and more, here!

Ingredients

  • COOKIE DOUGH:
  • 4 sticks plus 3 TBSP of unsalted butter softened (that's 500 grams of butter)
  • 6 hard-boiled egg yolks grated
  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • FILLING:
  • 1 1/2 cans of dulce de leche
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
  • 4 oz soft cream cheese
  • 1 TBSP apricot preserves

Instructions

  • Beat together the cooked grated egg yolks, softened butter, and sugar. Add the flour and knead together until a soft dough forms. (Dough should resemble a soft play-dough like dough and not stick to your fingers.)
  • Shape dough into little balls using a teaspoon measuring scoop. Press the balls into the oven mold and bake cookies 25 minutes in a preheated 375°F oven.
  • Let cookies cool 3 minutes before removing from the mold (these are fragile when hot but once slightly cooled they harden.) Repeat process.
  • TO MAKE FILLING: Beat together all the filling ingredients just until combined.
  • Fill each cookie half with the filling and join every two shells together. Chill after assembling and dust with powdered sugar for garnish.

Notes

When cookies are fresh out of the oven they are very fragile and soft but as they cool they harden, thus it is best to allow them to cool slightly in the molds before removing.
The recipe calls for hard-boiled egg yolks ONLY. Not sure what it does but these cookies turn out super tender. Grate only the cooked yolks for the recipe.

Nutrition per serving

Serving: 1gCalories: 140kcalCarbohydrates: 14.8gProtein: 2gFat: 8.2gSaturated Fat: 5.1gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 65mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 9.3g

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15 comments

    • Claire

    Hi Alyona, where can I find the email for nakkitchen.com to ask about the 40 cookie oven Oreshki pan? I could not find any contact information on their website. 

    Also, I wanted to share that this is an amazing recipe! ❤️I’ve made it using a stovetop Oreshki pan several times. It comes out delicious, but it can be a messy process (still worth it though!!)

      • Anna

      Hi Claire,

      I saw your question and I had the same one earlier! I actually found the pan! Here’s the link: https://www.ecrater.com/p/42283357/russian-oreshki-oreshnitsa-40-cavity-walnut
      It’s a bit on the pricey side but if you make oreshki often then it could be well worth it. Also, the website looks a bit sketch but I messaged the seller and they answered all my questions without any red flags so I went for it. Per my tracking # the pan should arrive tomorrow. I’ll report back once I’ve used it and let you know my thoughts if it’s worth it.

        • Claire

        Thank you for sharing, Anna!

          • Anna

          So I used the pan and it’s fantastic, worth every penny! I am so glad I bought it, makes the perfect Oreshki and it’s really convenient to make 40 shells (20 full oreshki) at one time. I will be making these for all the birthdays and holidays!

          Also, I have tried 2 recipes for oreshki and this one is my favorite! I’ve used this recipe twice already, although I only made half a batch both times but that gave me about 48-50 oreshki with this recipe and pan combo.

            • Benita

            Hi Anna – thank you for the source of a 40 cavity oven pan.

            Some questions for you and Alyona:
            1.) Does the pan have to be greased before the dough balls are put in?

            2.) Have you had issues with the cookies sticking to the pan?

            3.) Is the pan easy to clean? Can you put it in the dishwasher?

            Thanks!

            • Alyona Demyanchuk

            Hi Benita, these are similar to butter cookies so, the pans (cookie molds) do not need to be greased. They shouldn’t stick unless they are not fully cooked. I personally don’t wash my molds, so that they get seasoned well.

    • Sharon

    Hi, I have never used cooked egg yolks in a recipe, I’m excited to try this method. I wish to purchase some oven molds, would you need to pre heat the oven molds first, before putting them in the preheated oven.

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi Sharon, I’m not sure what the cooked egg yolks do exactly but these cookies are so good! No, I do not preheat the molds (they’ll be hot to the touch to work with.)

    • Inna

    Alyona,
    Have frozen the prepared cookies before? I will be doing some baking for a wedding and want to make things that can be prepped and frozen.

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi Inna, I know what you mean have baked for weddings before! These can definitely be frozen filled or unfilled and actually tend to have a softer crumb if filled beforehand which I definitely recommend because they will be melt in your mouth! If I were you I’d bake the shells first and freeze. Then remove 3 days before the wedding to fill and have filling set in the shells. You can choose to refrigerate them if possible then bring them to the wedding and they can sit room temp. Filling them in advance will give you a very nice crumb! And to make it look extra fancy sprinkle with a little powdered sugar!

    • Lena

    One more thing to add:
    The individual molds that the Russian stores sell sometimes were a little big, so I takes more fiilling to fill those up. I also had 36 smaller size molds and those worked out perfectly because they didn’t need so much filling inside.
    Just a helpful tip for those who might be looking at buying individual molds at the Russian stores.
    Now to be a real happy camper, I need to buy a nice mold like you have used in this recipe.
    10 star review!!!

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Lena, thank you so much for the wonderful review! I appreciate the tips and I’m glad they turned out for you!

    • Lena

    Hello!
    Recipe worked out perfectly. I used the individual molds that I had. It took forever lol to do it because you have to do it individully. But it makes a LOT of shells.
    I like that this recipe doesn’t use the soda. The other recipes that use soda always get so much bigger when they’re done baking. The filling is perfect.
    I made about a half and kept the rest of the shells not filled. I kept it in the ziplock bag and filled the rest of molds for New year’s. They taste like I baked them a week ago.
    Perfect perfect recipe.
    Blesings.

    • Lena

    Hello Alenyshka!
    Thank you for sharing such a detailed info, very helpful.
    I have a quick question. Do you know if this recipe would work for the individual walnut molds?
    I would like to purchase the mold you are using here but there wont be enough time for these Holidays. I still wanted to make it using the molds that I have. Please let me know.
    Filling for these looks amazing and I wanna try it.
    Thanks a bunch dear.
    Look forward to your reply.

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi Lena, These should work for the individual molds just remember to cool them slightly before removing because there fragile when hot but harden after a few minutes or so. I hope you enjoy these cookies let me know how it turns out for you!

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