Puff pastry walnut strudel: pour hot milk over 200 g ground walnuts

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Make the filling

   25 min

   Heat the milk, sugar, butter, and vanilla sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the milk begins to boil. Remove from the heat, add the ground walnuts, lemon zest, cinnamon, and rum, and stir into a thick, spreadable filling. Let cool to room temperature—a warm filling would melt the butter in the pastry and prevent the strudel from becoming flaky.

2. Spread the filling

   5 min

   Preheat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F). Unroll the puff pastry with the paper it comes wrapped in, positioning a long side toward you. Spread the cooled filling over the pastry, leaving a border of about 2 cm.

3. Roll up the strudel

   5 min

   Using the paper to help, roll up the pastry from the long side. Press the ends closed and tuck them under. Transfer the strudel, seam side down, to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

4. Brush and slash

   5 min

   Beat the egg yolk with a tablespoon of milk and brush it over the strudel. Use a sharp knife to make diagonal slashes across the top about every 4 cm to let steam escape and make the baked strudel easier to slice.

5. Bake

   30 min

   Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the strudel is golden brown and the pastry along the sides is puffed and crisp.

6. Let cool

   20 min

   Let the baked strudel cool on the baking sheet for at least 20 minutes so the filling can set. Dust with powdered sugar and cut along the slashes into 10 slices.

Tip: Take the puff pastry out of the refrigerator about 10 minutes before using it, as cold pastry can crack when unrolled. You can also make the filling a day ahead; stir in a tablespoon of milk before spreading it. Read more: Frozen lemons: why to freeze them and use the peel

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Orechová štrúdľa z lístkového cesta: 200 g mletých orechov zalejete horúcim mliekom