Nut Horns

These cream cheese pastries are an Eastern European holiday tradition that shows up at every Polish and Hungarian cookie table. A rich dough made with butter, cream cheese, and egg yolks wraps around a sweet walnut meringue filling, then bakes into flaky, crescent-shaped horns.

The dough must chill overnight. That long rest firms up the butter and cream cheese so you can roll it thin without it sticking or tearing. Skip this step and you’ll fight a soft, unworkable mess. Roll on a surface dusted with both flour and sugar. The sugar on the outside caramelizes slightly during baking and adds a sweet crunch to the exterior.

The filling is beaten egg whites with sugar and ground walnuts folded in. It puffs up slightly as it bakes inside the pastry, giving each horn a light, almost nougat-like center. Use just a level teaspoon per square. Overfilling makes them burst open at the seams.

Pro Tips

• Chill the full overnight. Shortcutting to a few hours won’t give you the same workability. The dough needs to be cold and firm.
• Roll thin. Thick dough makes dense, bready horns. You want it thin enough that the pastry is barely there around the filling.
• Flour and sugar the rolling surface generously. The dough is sticky even when cold. Keep dusting as you go.
• Seal the corners well. Overlap them slightly and press firmly so they don’t pop open during baking.

Variations

• Pecan filling: Swap walnuts for pecans for a sweeter, more buttery nut flavor.
• Apricot horns: Replace the nut filling with a spoonful of thick apricot preserves.
• Cinnamon sugar dust: Roll the finished, cooled horns in cinnamon sugar for extra sweetness.