Nazook are wonderful Armenian (some would argue Assyrian) pastries with a crispy, flaky crust, wrapped around a buttery, sweet roux-based filling. Traditionally, Nazook (or Nazookeh in Assyrian) are served for the holidays and when company arrives, and always accompanied by a hot cup of Chai.
About This Recipe
This Nazook recipe is so delicious that I only make it a few times a year for fear of eating the entire batch. Although the sweet roux filling is delicious as is, I like to mix in ground walnuts and cardamom. Cardamom makes everything better in my book!
Speaking of "my book," I first shared this recipe in my cookbook (Mom's Authentic Assyrian Recipes) in 2008. I got the original recipe from my sister, but I did make some changes, especially to the filling.
A few years later, this exact Nazook recipe was shared on a popular food blog by someone who claimed: "she got it from the net from someone named Hilda." I find that funny because this is the first time that I'm sharing my Nazook recipe online and I decided to halve my original Nazook recipe.
So, if reading this Nazook recipe gives you deja vu, or if you think I copied the recipe from the other site, now you know the whole story!
Why This Recipe Works
I'm not gonna lie, this is a time-consuming recipe, but your efforts will definitely be rewarded. The ingredients are simple, the recipe is authentic, and the flavor is outstanding!
Nazook are best when they're freshly out of the oven. However, you can easily reheat them in a toaster oven or a microwave, which revives them to their original glory. Or do what I do and freeze them and only defrost a few at a time.
What Goes Into This Recipe
Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour — All-purpose white flour is used in both the dough and the filling. I have not tried this recipe with whole wheat or other types of flour.
- Butter — Although the recipe calls for unsalted butter, you can substitute salted butter. However, omit the ½ teaspoon of salt that the dough recipe calls for.
- Sour Cream — Instead of using sour cream in the dough, you can use yogurt. Or, if you don't have yogurt for the glaze, you can use sour cream.
- Lemon Juice — If you don't have lemon juice, you can substitute it with vinegar.
- Walnuts — Walnuts are not usually added to Nazook, but I've always added them. If you have a nut allergy or prefer not to add nuts, you may leave them out.
How to Make Nazook
Prepare the Dough
Step 1: Add yeast to room-temperature sour cream and mix to combine. Set it aside for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Combine flour, salt, and butter. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender (paid link) until crumbly. Add egg, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and sour cream; mix well. Knead the dough until it's no longer sticky. Add more flour if necessary. Form into a ball, mark with an ✝️, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
To learn more about why we mark the dough with a cross symbol, check out my kileche recipe.
Make the Filling
Add melted butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, and ground walnuts to a medium-sized bowl. Mix thoroughly until the filling ingredients are combined and crumbly.
Assembly Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Step 1: Melt 1-½ tablespoons of butter and set aside. Remove dough from refrigerator; divide into 4 equal portions. Roll out one portion at a time into a 10" x 6” rectangle. Brush with melted butter.
Step 2: Spread ¼ of the filling over each rectangle, leaving a ½” border. Cover the filling with a piece of parchment paper and lightly roll over it with a rolling pin so that the filling adheres to the dough.
Step 3: Fold the edges in ½” over the filling and roll into a cylinder. Gently flatten the cylinder with your palms. Using a crinkle cutter (paid link), cut each roll into 9 pieces and arrange the Nazook on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Prick a few times with a fork.
Prepare Glaze/Bake Nazook
Step 1: Whisk egg yolk and yogurt together to make the glaze. You can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of cold water to dilute the glaze.
Step 2: Brush Nazook liberally with the glaze and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Continue until all the Nazook are baked.
Enjoy with a hot cup of tea!
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
Gata and Nazook are both Armenian pastries and both contain a sweet roux-based filling. Gata, like its Assyrian cousin, "Kadeh" or "Chada" is shaped like a pie and sliced into triangle-shaped servings. The Assyrian version, however, contains a savory roux filling. Sometimes sugar is added to the roux to sweeten up the Chada.
Nazook, on the other hand, are individual-sized pastries or cookies. Assyrians also prepare these pastries, but we call them "Nazookeh."
Generally, Assyrians credit the recipe to the Armenians.
Most credit Armenians as the ones who first prepared Nazook. However, similar to other Middle-Eastern recipes, there are other cultures that also claim the recipes, including Persians.
The word Nazook means delicate, fragile, or thin. Although I don't consider this pastry fragile, I think the "thin" translation is more fitting, since the dough has to be rolled very thinly before adding the filling and rolling it.
There are approximately 100 calories in one Nazook, depending on the recipe.
- If you don't want to chill the dough for 3 hours, you can let it rise in a warm spot for an hour instead. I've made Nazook both ways, but I prefer chilling the dough, which makes it easier to work with.
- If you don't have a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour, you can use a fork or your hands.
- Nazookeh are usually cut with a crinkle cutter (paid link), which gives them a pretty, decorative edge. I seem to have misplaced mine in the recent move. If you have to, you can also use a sharp knife to slice the Nazook.
- Nazook taste best when they're freshly baked. However, they do freeze well. So you may want to freeze some and leave some out to enjoy with your tea or coffee.
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Nazook (Armenian Pastry)
Ingredients
Dough
- 1⅛ teaspoon yeast (½ packet)
- ½ cup sour cream (room temperature)
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (sifted)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (chilled)
- 1 medium egg
- ½ tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1½ tablespoon melted butter (for brushing the dough with)
Filling
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
Glaze
- 1 medium egg yolk (beaten)
- 1 teaspoon yogurt
Instructions
Prepare the Dough
- Add yeast to the sour cream and mix. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Combine flour, salt, and butter. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender (paid link) until crumbly. Add egg, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and sour cream; mix well. Knead the dough until it's no longer sticky. Add more flour if necessary. Form into a ball, mark with an ✝️, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Make the Filling
- Add melted butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, and ground walnuts to a medium-sized bowl. Mix thoroughly until the filling ingredients are combined and crumbly.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Assembly Instructions
- Melt 1-½ tablespoons of butter and set aside. Remove dough from refrigerator; divide into 4 equal portions. Roll out one portion at a time into a 10" x 6” rectangle. Brush with melted butter.
- Spread ¼ of the filling over each rectangle, leaving a ½” border. Cover the filling with a piece of parchment paper and lightly roll over it with a rolling pin so that the filling adheres to the dough.
- Fold the edges in ½” over the filling and roll into a cylinder. Gently flatten the cylinder with your palms. Using a crinkle cutter, cut each roll into 9 pieces and arrange the Nazook on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Prick a few times with a fork.
Prepare Glaze/Bake Nazook
- Whisk egg yolk and yogurt together to make the glaze. You can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of cold water to dilute the glaze.
- Brush Nazook liberally with the glaze and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Continue until all the Nazook are baked. Enjoy with a hot cup of tea.
Notes
- If you don't want to chill the dough for 3 hours, you can let it rise in a warm spot for an hour instead. I've made Nazook both ways, but I prefer chilling the dough, which makes it easier to work with.
- If you don't have a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour, you can use a fork or your hands.
- Nazookeh are usually cut with a crinkle cutter (paid link), which gives them a pretty, decorative edge. I seem to have misplaced mine in the recent move. If you have to, you can also use a sharp knife to slice the Nazook.
- Nazook taste best when they're freshly baked. However, they do freeze well. So you may want to freeze some and leave some out to enjoy with your tea or coffee.
Judy Bowen says
I have such fond memories of this pastry from my childhood. My maternal grandmother was Assyrian and my mother was part Assyrian, part Armenian. We used to eat this all the time when we visited my mother's sister in New Jersey. But alas, after my grandmother passed there was no recipe. So I am delighted to try this! I don't remember the crescents though. Ours was just flat like a pie and we cut it into slices. Then Nanny would bring out sweet, unsalted butter and jam. Wonderful!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Judy, I'm glad that you found this recipe too. However, the way you described it being in a pie shape I'm wondering if you are referring to my chada (kadeh) recipe? Sometimes it's formed into a circle while other times people fold the dough over the filling to make a half circle. Here's the recipe, let me know what you think! https://hildaskitchenblog.com/recipe/kadeh-recipe-assyrian-pastry/
Marline says
Can I use yogurt instead of sour cream?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Marline, Yes, you sure can!
Marline says
Thank you for replying back I did use yogurt instead of sour cream and they turned out amazing. I've tried many recipes for nazook, but they always spread out in the oven for some reason and the filling comes out , but these came out absolutely perfect The dough is incredible. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you for coming back and letting us know how it went! I think when the filling spreads too much it's because the ratio of butter to flour and sugar is wrong. Too much butter most likely. I'm glad you liked the way these came out. Enjoy!
Karen says
What an amazing recipe! The pastries came out beautifully and so delicious! For the filling, I added an extra 1/2 cup of walnuts and saffron for the glaze. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe !!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, Karen, I wouldn't have considered saffron for the glaze. I will have to try that, thanks!
Karen says
Hi dear Hilda, could veg oil be used as a substitute for butter in this recipe?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Karen, I supposed you could, but the texture won't be the same. Instead of being flaky, it will be dry and crispy (just my educated guess). If you decide to try it, please let me know how it goes!
Kelly Methey says
These are so very good! I love them. I can identify with being able to eat a whole batch as they are that delicious!
Make these for Christmas, you won’t be disappointed!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, Kelly! I appreciate the review. 😘
Kathy Fisher says
Perfectly delicious. Greg and I love them. Even better with a fresh cup of coffee. A taste of Heaven.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Kathy! I'm so glad you both enjoyed the Nazook!