Nazook (Armenian Pastry)

Add yeast to the sour cream and mix. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Combine flour, salt, and butter. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastrty blender (paid link) until crumbly. Add egg, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and sour cream; mix well. Knead the dough until it’s no longer sticky. Add more flour if necessary. Form into a ball, mark with an , and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Add melted butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, and ground walnuts to a medium-sized bowl. Mix thoroughly until the filling ingredients are combined and crumbly.

Melt 1-½ tablespoons of butter and set aside. Remove dough from refrigerator; divide into 4 equal portions. Roll out one portion at a time into a 10″ x 6” rectangle. Brush with melted butter.
Spread ¼ of the filling over each rectangle, leaving a ½” border. Cover the filling with a piece of parchment paper and lightly roll over it with a rolling pin so that the filling adheres to the dough.
Fold the edges in ½” over the filling and roll into a cylinder. Gently flatten the cylinder with your palms. Using a crinkle cutter, cut each roll into 9 pieces and arrange the Nazook on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Prick a few times with a fork.

Whisk egg yolk and yogurt together to make the glaze. You can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of cold water to dilute the glaze.
Brush Nazook liberally with the glaze and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Continue until all the Nazook are baked. Enjoy with a hot cup of tea.

If you don’t want to chill the dough for 3 hours, you can let it rise in a warm spot for an hour instead. I’ve made Nazook both ways, but I prefer chilling the dough, which makes it easier to work with.
If you don’t have a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour, you can use a fork or your hands.
Nazookeh are usually cut with a crinkle cutter (paid link), which gives them a pretty, decorative edge. I seem to have misplaced mine in the recent move. If you have to, you can also use a sharp knife to slice the Nazook.
Nazook taste best when they’re freshly baked. However, they do freeze well. So you may want to freeze some and leave some out to enjoy with your tea or coffee.

Page 2 of 2