Oreshki – Russian Walnut Cookies with Condensed Milk
Oreshki means 'little nuts': small shortcrust shells baked in the shape of a walnut, filled with dulce de leche and pressed together in pairs. In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus they belong on every holiday table.
They are baked in their own iron, the oreshnitsa: there is a cast-iron version for the stovetop and an electric one that works like a small waffle iron. Both are easy to find online and in Eastern European shops.
No oreshnitsa? If you do not have the iron (yet), you can bake the dough in a cake-pop or mini-muffin maker. The shells come out domed instead of nut-shaped, but the dough, the filling and the bite are the same — a good way to try the recipe before buying an iron of your own.
For the filling we use Argentine dulce de leche: the same principle as boiled condensed milk, only creamier and without hours of boiling a tin.
🔎 What is dulce de leche? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
🔎 What is condensed milk? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 350 g all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 150 g cold butter, cubed
- 2 eggs
- 80 g regular sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) or baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 400 g thick pastry-grade dulce de leche for the filling (or boiled condensed milk, sgushchyonka, or a cocoa-hazelnut spread)
- Optional: 50 g chopped walnuts to mix into the filling
Method
- 1
In a bowl, mix the flour, the sugar, the baking soda and the salt. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips or in a food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs.
- 2
Add the eggs and the vanilla. Bring it together quickly without overworking it into a soft but manageable dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- 3
Shaping the shells: roll small, uniform balls of about 5-7 g each, so they fit the cavities of the oreshnitsa mold exactly.
- 4
Heat the mold, brush it lightly with oil if needed, and place a ball of dough in each cavity.
- 5
Close the mold and cook over moderate heat for 1-2 minutes per side, until golden.
- 6
Take out the golden shells and, while they are still warm, trim the excess edges with a knife or a fine grater so they fit together perfectly. Cooled, they crack instead of trimming.
- 7
Filling and assembly: fill each shell with thick dulce de leche (you can tuck a piece of walnut inside) and press them together in pairs to form the whole nut.
Slavic Cooking: Tradition, Technique and Comfort
Slavic cooking does something few other kitchens do as well: it turns simple ingredients into unforgettable dishes. Here are the Eastern European classics — from delicate syrniki to a warming buckwheat soup — each one written so the authentic, familiar flavor actually comes out. If you want food that warms from the inside and surprises your guests with something unfamiliar, this is the place.
