Russian Caramel Cookies - Oreshki

Oreshki is made of two components that are absolutely awesome together – shortcrust cookies and caramel.

There are many traditional Slavic cookies around the world, but there is no better cookie than Oreshki.

They are shaped into mini walnuts and they taste so good. Oreshki is very well known as beautiful, walnut-shaped Russian cookies. They are so popular in Latvia and many Slavic countries. They are very iconic Russian treats, especially we eat them during many holidays like Christmas, Ligo, Easter, and other special occasions.

I love these cookies so much, I used to eat Oreshki every holiday!

Cookies are very golden, crispy and come out so well with this recipe. The filling is so creamy and caramelly. It really is a favorite among everyone, but especially children, it is my childhood treat of all time.

Oreshki is made of two components that are absolutely awesome together – shortcrust cookies and caramel. I can remember watching my grandmother making them and couldn’t wait to eat them all.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 200 gr of unsalted butter
• 150 gr of sugar
• 360 gr + 60 gr extra if needed of plain white flour
• 0,5 tbsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of vinegar
• 1 can of caramel ( or you can use condensed milk and boil it for 3 hours)

Directions

Step 1: In a bowl add eggs, sugar and mix everything with a whisk. Then add melted butter, make sure it's not hot, and mix everything again. Add a little bit of plain flour and mix that in, then add more flour and mix.

Step 2: Take baking soda and add vinegar, leave it to bubble up and then add to your mixture and fold it all together. Then keep adding a little bit of flour at a time, mixing that in and adding more flour until your dough comes together. The dough needs to be soft and elastic, so you might need to add more or less flour.

Step 3: I am using shop-bought caramel ( you can also use dulce de leche or boil one can of condensed milk for 3 hours and it becomes caramel)

Step 4: Pinch a tiny bit of dough and roll a small ball. It should be a smaller sized than a walnut. I like to roll out mine before in advance, so its easier to cook them one after another.

I am using a waffle maker called Silver Crest that I bought here in my local store Lidl which had the cookie shape attachment but you can use any mold that you have or can find online.

I cook them for 2-3 min until they are done, and you will see beautiful half of the cookie will come out. You would need to repeat the process with all the cookies until all of them are done. Some will have edges that you will need to trim.

Leave cookies to cool down completely.  Add half a tsp of caramel inside each half and glue them together.

Set them aside to set completely and enjoy!! They don’t last a long time, trust me!

Text, photo, video, and recipes: Alla Driksne