Slovenian Walnut Dumplings (Orehovi štruklji)

Štruklji is one of the most typical Slovenian dishes, prepared in every geographical region of Slovenia.

In this recipe, štruklji are made with leavened dough and have a walnut filling. They are served with buttered bread crumbs and fruit compote as my grandma always made it.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Bread crumbs with butter

• 100 g butter

• 60 g bread crumbs

Compote*

• 750 g apples

• 150 g prunes

• 1/2 lemon

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 3 cloves

• 75 g sugar

• 1.5 l water

*best prepared the day before you make štruklji

Dough

• 400 g flour

• 80 g butter

• 60 g sugar

• 4 egg yolks

• 8 g instant yeast

• 6 g salt

• 2 dl milk

• zest of 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp rum

Walnut Filling

• 100 g butter at room temperature

• 280 g ground walnuts

• 2 tbsp sour cream

• 4 egg whites

• 40 g bread crumbs

• 1 tbsp rum

• 2 tsp vanilla paste

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions:

Dough

1. In a bowl, combine flour and yeast.

2. Heat the milk, salt, sugar, and butter in a sauce pan until butter is melted.

3. Add lemon zest, and rum to the milk mixture and stir well.

4. Once the milk mixture is sufficiently cool, add the egg yolks and mix.

5. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and knead by hand or using a mixer until the dough is soft and elastic. It should not stick to your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about 40 minutes).

Filling

1. Beat the butter until fluffy.

2. Add the ground walnuts, bread crumbs, sour cream, rum, vanilla paste, ground cinnamon and continue mixing.

3. Separately beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

4. Slowly fold the whipped egg whites into the walnut mixture.

Making štruklji

1. Split the dough into two.

2. Roll out each piece into a 30x40 cm rectangle.

3. Spread the walnut filling evenly over the dough.

4. Roll up the dough.

5. Cut the rolled up dough into two and seal the end of each štrukelj.
6. Place each štrukelj on a cloth napkin.
7. Wrap the štrukelj.

8. Tie both ends of each cloth with an elastic band.

9. Put štruklji into a pan of slightly salted boiling water and cook them for about 30 minutes. Take out and let stand for about 10 minutes before unwrapping.

Compote

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Slice the 1/2 lemon.

2. Put water into a saucepan, add sugar and bring to a boil.

3. Put apple slices, prunes, lemon slices, the cinnamon stick and cloves into the boiling water.

4. Cook for 5 minutes and let cool.

Serving štruklji

1. Melt butter in a pan. Add the bread crumbs, and fry them while stirring continuously until they are golden brown.

2. Unwrap the cloth and cut each štrukelj into slices.

3. Arrange the slices on a plate, spread with buttered bread crumbs, and sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar.

4. Serve with the apple compote.

5. To reheat, cover štruklji with a wet paper towel and microwave for a few minutes.