Just a while back we baked the flaky Croissants from Paris, crunchy Dutch Crunch Bread from Netherlands, lovely Povitica a sweet bread from Croatia, which by far has been my favorite kind of Bread. And now its time for another stunning delicacy and this one is from Armenia. When it comes to Daring Bakers Challenge each and every month has been a learning experience.

As soon as Jason, the host of April’s DBC announced the challenge,I was thoroughly excited. Nazook is something that I have never heard about and baking something new is truly a joy. The Nazook is Jason’s aunt Aida’s recipe and he thinks that hers is the best. We were challenged to make either the Armenian Nazook or the Nutmeg Cake or both. I was upto the challenge so decided to bake both of them.

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: NAZOOK and NUTMEG CAKE. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

Armenian Nutmeg Cake is a twist on a traditional coffee cake. Its moist texture, nutty topping and the fragrance of nutmeg is mind blowing. I just wanted to make a small cake so halved the entire recipe.

ARMENIAN NAZOOK AND NUTMEG CAKE

Armenian Nazook
Makes about 25 pieces.

Ingredients:

Pastry Dough
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons yeast
½ cup sour cream
½ cup softened butter

Filling
¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
6 tablespoon butter softened
a teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg yolk for egg wash

Place the sifted flour in a large bowl.Add the dry yeast, and mix it in. Add the sour cream, and 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, or overnight like me.

And now for the filling, mix all the ingredients together until it looks like clumpy,damp sand. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut the refrigerated dough into two halves.Form one half 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. Try to spread the filling as close as possible to the edges on the short sides, but keep some of pastry dough uncovered (1 inch/2.5 cm) along the long edges. 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. Do the same for the other half. Place in a preheated moderate oven for about 30 minutes, until the tops are a rich, golden brown. Cool and enjoy

Armenian Nutmeg Cake

Makes one 6” inch cake

Ingredients
½ cup milk ( I used 1% milk)
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all purpose flour
a teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
6 tablespoon butter,cubed
¼ cup walnuts pieces
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg

I used my food processor for making the dough.Preheat your oven to moderate 350°F. Mix the baking soda (not baking powder) into the milk. Set aside. Put the flour, baking powder, and the brown sugar into your food processor. Pulse until uniformly mixed. Toss in the cubed butter. Pulse until uniformly mixed into tan-colored crumbs. Pour HALF of the crumbs into your springform 6” pan. Press out a crust using your fingers and knuckles. Crack the egg into the food processor with the rest of the crumbs still in it.
Add nutmeg. Pulse until well-incorporated. Pour in the milk and baking soda mixture. Continue to mix until a slightly lumpy tan batter is formed. Pour the batter over the crust in the spring form pan.Gently sprinkle the walnut pieces (Before adding the walnuts I toasted them in the oven for about five minutes.)over the batter.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven for 30 minutes. It’s ready when the top is golden brown, and when it passes the toothpick test (comes out clean). Cool the cake in the pan, and then dig in.

Both the deserts were great but our favorite pick was the Nazook. We wiped it in no time, I guess the next time I need to make a big batch of this tiny little pastry:)

Thanks Jason for the lovely challenge!