Nut Horns Recipe

This is an old family recipe. We make them every Christmas and there are never enough. The dough is easy to work with and they are easy to make.

Nut Horns are more pastry than cookie, but we’ve been making them as part of our Christmas cookie trays for years.

This is one of my favorite Christmas cookies! It’s also one of the most involved. For that reason, it doesn’t always make the cut when I’m trying to figure out which cookies to make for the holidays.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Additional Time: 8 hrs
Total Time: 8 hrs 50 mins
Servings: 24

Ingredients

Dough:

½ pound butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sour cream
1 egg yolk

Filling:

¾ cup finely ground walnuts
¾ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Cut butter into flour in a bowl using 2 knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add sour cream and egg yolk; mix well. Shape the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight.
Combine walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 1/8-inch thick circle on a lightly floured surface. Spread 1/4 of the walnut mixture on each circle; cut each circle into 12 wedge-shaped pieces with a pizza wheel.
Shape each piece of dough into a crescent by rolling dough from the wide end of the wedge into the center. Transfer cookies carefully to the baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Watch cookies carefully as they bake; their bottoms tend to brown faster than their tops.