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Nuts with boiled condensed milk in a hazelnut oven on gas

Nutshell Cookies with Dulce de Leche

Classic, old-school, simple, but so good! These nutshell cookies filled with dulce de leche need no introduction — just about everyone grew up with them. My nut-shaped cookie mold is older than I am; you could say it's a family heirloom. They're quick and easy to make, and the kids can help shape the dough and fill the shells.

Julia M.

Recipe author

Nuts with boiled condensed milk in a hazelnut oven on gas

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Butter

400

Eggs

Sugar

100

Baking soda

Flour

Dulce de leche

800

Vegetable oil

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 10 % 7 g

Fats 32 % 23 g

Carbohydrates 59 % 43 g

406 kcal

GI: 0 / 0 / 100

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make nutshell cookies? Get all your ingredients ready ahead of time. The butter should be soft. In a mixing bowl, combine the raw eggs and sugar. Stir to blend. I don't whip the egg mixture — I just stir it together.
Step 2:

Next, add the softened butter. Plan for softening the butter ahead of time — take it out of the fridge the night before and leave it on the counter at room temperature.
Step 3:

Break the butter into pieces in the bowl with a fork, add the baking soda, and work in the flour a little at a time. It's easiest to start bringing the dough together with a wooden spoon.
Step 4:

Then keep kneading the dough by hand until it no longer sticks to your fingers. Don't overwork it. As soon as it takes in the last of the flour and stops sticking, stop kneading. Otherwise the dough will keep asking for more and more flour and the baked cookies will end up dense and dry.
Step 5:

Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll them into balls a little smaller than a walnut. It's best to roll out a whole batch of balls first, then start baking. Just be sure to load the mold with a full set of balls each time.
Step 6:

For this you'll need a stovetop nut-shell cookie mold (an "oreshnitsa"). Heat it up thoroughly. I set the mold on the burner to heat before I even start mixing the dough — it's heavy cast iron and takes a good while to come up to temperature. Even though there's plenty of butter in the dough, brush the mold well with vegetable oil before the first batch. Set balls of dough into one half of the mold and press the other half down on top.
Step 7:

With the dough in the mold, bake the shells over the burner on both sides, flipping the mold back and forth over the flame. Move the finished shells to a bowl to cool. Keep an eye on them so they don't scorch.
Step 8:

Once the shells are completely cool, start filling them. Dulce de leche is the best filling here. Fill two shell halves and press them together — the dulce de leche holds them nicely.
Step 9:

Use a sharp knife to trim the seams and cut away any excess dough. Your dulce de leche nutshell cookies are ready! Enjoy with a cup of tea!

I always make my own dulce de leche. Cover unopened cans of regular sweetened condensed milk with water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 hours, topping up with hot water as needed. A slow cooker works great for this. Do it ahead — make the dulce de leche the day before or even a few days in advance.
Be ready to use more or less flour than the recipe calls for. Go by the feel of the dough, not the exact amount of flour. When in doubt, read up on flour and how it behaves.
Always wash your eggs before using them — even a shell that looks clean can carry harmful bacteria. A food-safe wash and a small brush work best.