Probably, many remember how in Soviet times, condensed milk was the most favorite product of a sweet tooth. Various desserts were prepared on its basis. The most famous and popular of them were nuts or mushrooms, which were baked in a cast-iron "hazelnut". All housewives had this baking dish, and today we will try to remember the recipe for our favorite delicacy.
How to choose condensed milk
The best option for filling for nuts is boiled condensed milk. To get a high-quality and tasty filling, it is best to cook it at home. First of all, you need to choose the right condensed milk.
When choosing condensed milk in the store, pay attention to the following points:
- Condensed milk should contain only two ingredients: milk and sugar.
- The fat content in the product is not less than 8.5%.
- The label must have the "GOST" sign, the presence of the "TU" sign means that the condensed milk contains various additives, preservatives and flavorings. If there are ingredients of chemical origin in the condensed milk, the product can stratify, curl up, or even explode during the cooking process.
- Also pay attention to the expiration date and tightness of the can. It must be intact, free from damage, dents and rust.
How to cook condensed milk properly
The boiling time of condensed milk affects the consistency and taste of the finished product. For the preparation of classic nuts, it takes from 3 to 4 hours. Such a long cooking time for condensed milk is necessary so that the filling does not flow out of the dessert and spoil its appearance. If you often use boiled condensed milk in the preparation of sweets, then it is more convenient to cook several cans at once. After cooling down, they can be put into the refrigerator and opened as needed.
A cooking container should be taken with a thick bottom and walls. You need to remove the labels from the cans. It is better to put the jars in the pan sideways, and not stand vertically, then they will not float when boiling. The water level in the pan should cover the cans of condensed milk to a height of 5-7 centimeters.
To prevent the jars from hitting the bottom of the container when boiling water, put a piece of natural cloth or a thin towel on the bottom of the pan. Then pour cold water into the container, turn on a strong fire and bring the water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium and continue the cooking process. The longer the cooking time, the more viscous and dense the condensed milk will be. While boiling condensed milk, you should keep a kettle with boiling water on the stove in order to add water as it boils in the pan.
After the allotted cooking time, cans of condensed milk are removed from the pan using tongs or a slotted spoon. They are placed on a towel or heat-resistant surface and left to cool completely. So that this process does not take you much time, it is better to boil condensed milk a day before cooking the nuts.
If you have not prepared condensed milk in advance and want to speed up the cooling process, then you need to place hot cans in a saucepan with cold water. As soon as the water heats up, it should be drained and filled with a new portion of cold water. This should be done several times until the jars stop heating the water.
The classic recipe for making nuts with condensed milk
Nowadays, housewives most often use butter or sour cream to prepare the dough. But in the classic recipe for making nuts with condensed milk, margarine is used. A special baking dish is required to bake cookies. Our mothers and grandmothers used heavy cast-iron "hazelnuts", in which cookies were baked only on a gas stove. Modern stores offer a huge selection of similar "hazelnuts": both electric and for cooking on a gas stove.
Cookie Ingredients:
- 250 g margarine (or butter)
- 100 g sugar
- 400-450 g flour
- 3 eggs
- 0.4 teaspoon salt
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
- a pinch of vanilla to taste
- vegetable oil for lubricating the mold
Ingredients for the filling:
1 can of boiled condensed milk
Preparation:
- Remove the margarine or butter from the refrigerator in advance.
- Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Put the whites in the refrigerator, put the egg yolks in a deep bowl.
- Beat the egg yolks with a mixer or whisk, gradually adding sugar to them. If desired, you can pour one packet of vanilla sugar into the egg mixture, beaten until a homogeneous consistency.
- Sift flour into a separate container, put softened butter in it. Knead the dough thoroughly by hand or using a mixer.
- Pour the whipped yolks into the kneaded dough, mix until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the chilled whites with salt and baking soda, quenched with lemon juice or vinegar.
- Beat the whites with a mixer or whisk until fluffy. Pour the whipped whites into the dough and mix thoroughly. The consistency of the dough should be thick and firm, but not sticky. Adjust the amount of flour if necessary.
- Divide the finished dough into equal parts about 1-1.5 centimeters in size. Roll a ball out of each piece.
- Lubricate the hazelnut for baking the first portion of cookies with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Lubricate every cell of the hazelnut and the flat surface too.
- Arrange the balls of dough in the cells, close the form, connecting the bottom and top, and put on medium heat. In the Soviet cast-iron hazelnuts, cookies are baked on a gas stove for 1-1.5 minutes on each side. In modern electric shelves, cookies should be baked according to the time indicated in the instructions for use.
- Turn the hazelnut periodically to ensure the cookies are evenly baked. You can look inside, carefully opening the lid, look so as not to overdry the nuts. When the cookies are golden brown, carefully remove from the heat and remove from the mold.
- Arrange the blanks in a prepared flat dish and let cool.
- The hazelnuts do not need to be oiled to bake the following biscuits. You should also take into account that the form will warm up and the subsequent portions of cookies will bake much faster.
- Shape and bake the rest of the pieces in the same way until the dough runs out. From the ingredients given in the recipe, you should get about 80 halves (their number may vary). If excess dough forms around the edges of the blanks, they can be carefully cut off, then added to the boiled condensed milk.
- When the blanks for the nuts have cooled, put the pre-cooked condensed milk on one half with a teaspoon, and cover the nut with the other half. Squeeze both halves a little, without squeezing too much, otherwise the nut may crumble.
Serve ready-made nuts with condensed milk for dessert with tea, coffee or cocoa.
Types of fillings
Nuts can be filled with a variety of ingredients, and not necessarily sweet. If you show your imagination, then you can make not only a sweet dessert from cookies, but also a light cold snack.
If you want to experiment with the traditional filling for nuts, you can add about 100 grams of butter or chopped nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds) to the condensed milk. Sometimes dried fruits are added to condensed milk: raisins, dried apricots, prunes or figs. Fillings with protein or custard, jam, jam, candied fruit are popular.
If you want to make unsweetened cookies, then the nuts can be stuffed with a mixture of grated processed cheese, boiled egg and garlic. Also unsweetened nuts are stuffed with caviar or a mixture of fatty sour cream with chopped herbs. Remember that if you are making unsweetened cookies, you don't need to put sugar in the dough.
