Nazook Recipe: Step-by-Step Instructions and Video
By livelonger
Nazouk is a crisp, but soft, and buttery, sweet, but not too sweet, pastry that's a traditional favorite among Armenians (maybe not so much among dieters...see the nutritional information at the end). It goes well with coffee or tea, or even hot chocolate. And, if you want to have a go at making it, you'll get nods of approval from little old Armenian ladies everywhere.
Since there are virtually no good recipes for nazook online, I turned to the master pastry baker in my family, my Aunt Aida, who's been baking nazook for decades. Her nazook is absolutely perfect, much better than the best stuff you can buy in Glendale grocery stores. She graciously offered to show me how to make nazook, and sent me home with 40 pieces of this pastry (yes, that sound you hear is the death knell of my weight loss efforts...).
A little on this pastry's background: Aida tells me that other Armenians eat nazook, too, but they might call it gata (gata is what Persian-Armenians reserve for a specific type of round cake). Armenians prepare it usually around the time of Easter, and it is eaten for 40 days through Ascension. I'm not sure it has any religious significance except for that this time usually involves friends visiting each other, and nazook is a nice pastry to serve along with coffee or tea.
Cook Time
- Prep time:
- Cook time:
- Ready in:
- Yields: 40 pieces of nazook
What You'll Need
Equipment:
- 2 bowls
- 2 cookie sheets
- pastry brush
- rolling pin, or empty wine bottle
- crinkle cutter, or a sharp knife
Ingredients:
- 4 1/2 cups (563 g) all-purpose flour, sifted
- 8 oz (227 g) sour cream
- 3 1/2 sticks (397 g) softened butter (room temperature)
- 1 packet (2 1/2 tsp, or 7 g) active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cup (338 g) sugar
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
- 1-2 egg yolks (for the wash; alternatively, some yogurt, egg whites, or a whole egg)
Directions
Make the Pastry Dough
- Sift 3 cups (375 g) of the flour into a large bowl.
- Add the dry yeast, and mix it in.
- Add the sour cream, and 2 sticks (227 g) of the softened butter.
- Use your hands, or a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, to work it into a dough.
- If using a standing mixer, switch to a dough hook. If making manually, continue to knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl or your hands. If it remains very sticky, add some flour, a little at a time.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3-5 hours.
Make the filling
- Mix together the remaining (1 1/2 cups, 188 g) flour, the sugar, and the remaining (1 1/2 stick, 170 g) of softened butter.
- Add the vanilla extract.
- Mix the filling until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. It should not take long.
Make the nazook
- Cut the refrigerated dough into quarters.
- Form one of the quarters into a ball. Dust your working surface with a little flour.
- Roll out the dough into a large rectangle or oval. The dough should be thin, but not transparent.
- Spread 1/4 of the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer.
- From one of the long sides, start slowly rolling the dough across. Be careful to make sure the filling stays evenly distributed. Roll all the way across until you have a long, thin loaf.
- Pat down the loaf with your palm and fingers so that it flattens out a bit (just a bit).
- Apply your egg yolk wash with a pastry brush.
- Use your crinkle cutter (or knife) to cut the loaf into 10 equally-sized pieces. Put onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Place in an oven preheated to 350F (175C) for about 30 minutes, until the tops are a rich, golden brown.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!
Variations
The pastry dough can be made with egg yolks instead of the sour cream, if you want a richer-hued pastry dough. Apparently this is the way my grandmother made it. You'd need to add enough yolks to achieve the same dough consistency as you would with the sour cream.
There are far more variations when it comes to the filling. Here are some common variations and additions (from traditional to less traditional):
- mahleb - a powder made from the pits of a type of cherry; it has an almond/cherry flavor
- nutmeg
- cinnamon
- ground walnuts
- ground hazelnuts
- ground almonds
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 piece | |
| Calories 152 | Calories from Fat 81 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 9 g | 14% |
| Carbohydrates 15 g | 5% |
| Protein 2 g | 4% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Nutritional Information
Recipe (40 pcs)
| Piece
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
calories
| 6082
| 152
| |
fat
| g
| 374
| 9
|
carbohydrates
| g
| 618
| 15
|
protein
| g
| 69
| 2
|
sodium
| mg
| 175
| 4
|
Comments
Awesome! It looks great.
I don't mind the calories at all. These look so delicious.
And thank you for sharing this valuable recipe. It reflects a part of Armenian's culture. Your food delicacies rock! :D
Voted up and bookmarked this hub!
Great hub and video. Never heard of a crinkle cutter. That is a serious baking tool!
This looks unbelievably good. Bookmarking for future use! Voted up, useful, and awesome!
This is one of the best video guides I have found! And the Nazzok Recipe is awesomely simple to follow with such beautiful results! Your "Star," she has much to teach us! You have outdone yourself livelonger, just when I thought you were among the perfect few, you show me another level of greatness! A sure masterpiece my friend! Voted up and shared as it should be!
Super HubHugs and Shalom~
K9
...Nazook...(not Nazzok) my fingers apparently had their own version of how to spell this delicacy! **blushing**
Oh my goodness. I am going to weigh a million pounds with these amazing recipes. That Nazook looks absolutely amazing! And I've never made a yeast bread recipe where the yeast could be added to cold ingredients. I love this one because it looks so easy to do, and SO delicious. Also, will Aunt Aida adopt me? I'm pretty sure I could live on her bread alone! Yum.
Sign me up with Leah to be Aunt Aida's next neice! What a tempting recipe! I will need to invite everyone I know to come over when I bake these. Otherwise, I'll eat them all myself. Voted up and awesome.
Thank you all for your comments!
Simone: I agree on the ingeniousness of using the glass bottle, and the calorieworthiness of it!
thesingernurse: I agree! There are a lot of Armenian foods that are delicious. Choreg is another delicious pastry (and quite a bit easier to make).
Ryan: Seriously! I hadn't either. Should be in any baker's or assassin's arsenal.
K9: All the credit goes to my aunt, who sacrificed an afternoon showing me how it's done. Did I mention she made an incredibly good lentil soup for lunch, too? I really need to visit her more often! HubHugs and shalom, my friend.
Leah: She's an amazing cook. How that entire family maintains their weight, I have no idea. This was a first for me, too, where the yeast dough rose in the refrigerator.
Marcy: Excellent idea! Ever since I calculated the calories, I've been trying to share them with everyone I come in contact with (which is difficult...).
Oh me, oh my oh--these look fabulous. How neat that you have posted this Nazook recipe online! Bravo Aunt Aida!
Mmmmm. Looks delish! I love that you took the time to not only provide step by step instructions with images to ensure that you are doing it right but, you also added a video to top it all off! Great hub, voted up, hope that you will enjoy my hubs as well!
Mmm a delicious sounding recipe.
I will let you know how I get on.
An up here plus bookmarked.
Take care
Eddy.
yumy recipe.
Gosh! I am now hungry. It looks good, I could just pluck it from the computer!
Aunt Aida is a rockstar. She *must* become a regular guest on the "Livelonger Cooking Show."
That would be a fun series to watch.
I love this hub. What a neat video, such fun to watch! Now feeling very hungry.
It look Delicious! Do you think it can be made Gluten-Free
Thank you, everyone, for your comments! Aunt Aida is a baking whiz.
kat11: I hope so! Actually, your question is timely. I'm going to try to convert this recipe this weekend to be both gluten-free and vegan, to see if it still works. I've found a recipe for a replacement of flour, and I plan on using coconut oil instead of butter, and pureed silken tofu instead of sour cream. Keep your fingers crossed! If it's successful, I'll add it to this Hub.
Thanks for your kind attention to share with us this perfect recipe .I have been looking for a Nazook recipe for a long time .Thanks alotttttttttttttttttt
kat11: Well, I tried to make gluten-free nazook. Unmitigated disaster! The problem is the flour. First I tried Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour; it had way too much garbanzo (chick pea) flour, so it tasted way too "beany." Then I tried a more standard flour mix, that uses primarily rice flour, potato starch, and some xanthan gum (a very popular recipe). It could not "hold" the butter and it created a huge pool of grease that the nazooks floated and fried in.
Maybe someone with more experience with gluten-free baking could provide some suggestions. I've read a little about using sorghum flour, but I couldn't find it at my local Whole Foods.
Love the video! These look SO yummy, and your Auntie is a gem. Love Maddie's idea about the cooking show, too - you already have some nice theme music happening. :D
Thanks, RedElf! She is indeed a gem, and nazook do more than look yummy: they taste awesome. :)
Oh my, these looks absolutely delicious! This is a recipe I definitely like to try out. I would love to make it with mahleb which I love or cinnamon. Bookmarking and rated up. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, SanneL. I love cinnamon and mahleb, too. The latter has such a nice, unique flavor that I always associate with Middle Eastern pastries.
thank you so much, ive been searching for this recipe for the longest time. My friend and I are going to try this for sure
Awesome video for the recipe. Thanks for posting it.
Bookmarked and shared.
Awesome step by step video instructions. Great job. Bookmarked, shared and voted up!
Awesome! Yeah we Armenians call is Gata, I had never heard the name Nazook :D That kinda sound funny. Armenians consider gata as a national cookie and often put a coin inside of it, whoever finds it it meant to be lucky! Have you ever been to Armenia livelonger?
Well, we Barskahai call this Nazook; Gata is only the round one. I have been to Armenia with my family once.
Nice :)
tserkerout talar very professional thank you for sharing same to whoever tape the making of nazoog we can learn from you a lot if only you wonted thank you again
I have always loved eating Nazook, but now I can make it! thanks for sharing. Aunt Aida is adorable and I am sure every Armenian family has an "Aunt Aida". It is our responsibility to document their recipes so that they are not lost over time. Thanks for taking the time to do just that. I will make it for Easter.
Bachigner - Anoush
thank you so much for sharing this. Your aunt is wonderful! I will try to make them as well.
I have been searching for a good Nazook recepie that no one is willing to share forever.
Thanks to your aunt Aida, I am just going to try this recepie just in time for Easter! My own home made Nazook! Will post the results!
Just finished baking with this wonderful ,foolproof recipe . Thanks for sharing, thanks a million Aunt Aida ! Greatly appreciated! :-))))))
Thank you. I just did it with the help of video, came out perfect.
God bless her .
Loove your Aunt Aida, wish i can bake as well as her:D Gonna try this soon!
-SimplyBakes
good recipe...voted up
Simone Smith 3 months ago
I think my jaw just dropped so far that it has become unhinged. I'm suing for damages, livelonger.
Seriously though- this guide is AWESOME!!! I've never heard of Nazook before. It's gorgeous- and it looks amazing! I really enjoyed the video. I love the little peek you've given us into Aunt Aida's kitchen- and I love how she rolls the dough out using a bottle. SO SMART! I bet this tastes amazing- and the cinnamon variation, I imagine, would be especially divine!!!
And nutrition-wise, this ain't all THAT bad...... TOTALLY WORTH THE DELICIOUSNESS!