Oreshki

These cookies have been in the back of my mind for a while now. I first saw them on Olga's Flavor Factory when I was working on my co-op a year ago. Something that is described as "an iconic Russian treat, especially during holidays, weddings and other special occasions." That is the entire premise of my blog in a nutshell (see what I did there?) Oreshki means little nut. Probably because these look like nuts. But it could also very well be in reference to the amount of time it takes to make them. 

However, long after reading about them they because a little forgotten. Not something at the forefront of my mind. When on vacation in Florida I was looking for fun places to eat and I came across a place called the International Food Mart. It wasn't as international as they claimed, and was mostly all Russian. But as I was looking through pictures to see if I thought it was worth going to visit (spoiler, it was) I saw tucked in a little case a section with the cookies above in it. And that is when I knew I was going. They did not disappoint. I knew then that I had to have a mold to make my own.

So I ordered a mold and a book for myself. I didn't get the book, but I got 10 presses so I still feel like I got the better end of the deal. 

A couple little tips I noticed while making them. The dough is really sticky and that made it hard to roll in to balls. I put the dough in a decorating bag and squeezed a little in. Secondly fill the center ones a little more so it creates on disk that is easy to get out, but doesn't spill down the sides. If you fill the outer ones it squeezes out. 

Also, I loved the filling on the ones we bought, but the dulce de leche and cream cheese mixture I wasn't a huge fan of personally. So I will be playing around with that.