Nut Roll - Variations

Variations

Nut rolls in the U.S. are often made with some combination of walnut, poppy seed, and coffee. There are other variations. These U.S. nut rolls are originating in the Slovenian poticas and the Polish makowiec.

Traditional Rolls in Central and Eastern Europe, like makowietz and bejgli, are a special type of rolled log shaped Central and Eastern European pastries generally made with two types of filling, walnut and poppyseed filling. In addition to ground nut fillings, cinnamon, raisins or currants, bread crumbs, lemon zest, rum and heavy cream or sour cream are used. The poppyseed versions are still popular in Russian-American neighborhoods in the USA.

The traditional nut bread served at Easter and Christmas in Slovenia and still very popular in some parts of the United States is called potica (po-TEET-sah). It is a yeast dough rolled and stretched paper thin and spread with a mixture of ground walnuts, butter, eggs, cream, and honey or sugar. It is then rolled jellyroll fashion and baked. Traditionally it was spiraled in a round pan, but now one is more likely to find it baked as a loaf.

Another type of pastry also called poticas are baked in special round cake tins with a tube in the middle. These poticas are usually ring shaped cakes. These pastries are not rolls, but a regional variant of Gugelhupf. There are at least fifty different kinds of these round poticas, differing in fillings. Traditional fillings consisted of walnuts, hazelnuts, honey, mint, curd, cream, cracklings, bacon or dried fruits. Today, the round poticas are often made with cocoa, chocolate or carob fillings.

The povitica, a traditional Croatian and Slovenian pastry, is made from buttery pastry dough rolled into very thin layers and covered with a layer of brown sugar, spices, and walnuts. The log-shaped loaf is then baked. Other roll shaped European pastries are filled with thick jam (called lekvar, usually apricot or cherry) called lekvarostekercs or Swiss roll.

Nut roll is also typical for northern Serbia (Vojvodina), where it is named "štrudla/штрудла" or "savijača/савијача". Serbian nut roll is usually covered with a layer of poppy or walnuts, but sometimes can be with a layer of carob or cocoa.