Grandma Susan's Nut Roll

Hayden Star's Note:

This is a family recipe, which many people have tried to get their hands on. Tranditionally, we make this labor of love during the holiday season and hand it out to families as gifts. This slightly sweet roll has a taste unlike any other sweet roll, and can be filled with a variety of things from poppyseed filling and raisins (how my great-grandma liked to make it for my dad), jams and jellies, to the traditional walnut filling listed in this recipe. This recipe doubles well, and the cooked rolls are great for freezing. Slice it up warm and spread lightly with some butter and welcome to euphoria!

• Total Time: 36 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 36 hrs
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 50

Yield: 8.0 rolls

DOUGH

• 9 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk, scalded
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 5 ounces evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 6 large eggs

FILLING

• 2 lbs walnuts, ground
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

ADDITIONAL

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 2 1/2 ounces cinnamon, ground
• 3 large eggs, beaten

Directions:

1. DISSOLVE the yeast in ½ cup of the scalded milk (still hot) and 1 Tablespoon of sugar.
2. COMBINE the rest of the dough ingredients and knead BY HAND until the dough is soft and elastic.
3. REFRIGERATE the dough for a minimum of 10 hours. Don't keep the dough in the refrigerator for more than two days.
4. DIVIDE the dough into eight balls and let rise in a warm place for 2½ - 3 hours.
5. PREPARE the filing ingredients by mixing them all together in a medium-size bowl and beat the eggs (in a separate bowl) while you are waiting for the dough to rise.
6. ROLL the dough out onto a well-floured surface into a rectangle, no more than ¼" thick. Brush the dough with some melted butter. Be liberal with this application - remember you have 1 cup of melted butter for eight rolls. The butter helps the filling stick and keeps the rolls moist in the middle.
7. SPREAD the filling out on top of the butter. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the filing. Put as much on as you like, this is just fo taste, and not absolutely necessary to the recipe. Then, drizzle the honey over top of all of this. Again, be liberal in applying this.
8. ROLL UP the dough loosely. The length of the roll doesn't matter, it just needs to fit onto your cookie sheet. Make three or four small slits diagonally across the top of the roll.
9. BRUSH with beaten eggs.
10. BAKE at 350º for 24-30 minutes. Your cook time will depend on how thick you rolled out your dough and how much filling you piled up inside. When done, your dough will be a beautiful golden brown color on the outside, and the slits which you cut in the top will have opened up and some filling will probablystart to bubble out. Try baking one roll first. When you think it's finished, cut it in half. You will be abl to see whether the dough in the middle is cooked. If not - just adjust your baking time accordingly.
11. SERVE the roll, by cutting slices off about 1" thick. With the filling that we used here, butter works GREAT as a spread.
12. Please let me know if you have any questions! Good luck and enjoy!