Mütəki | Azerbaijani Hazelnut Tube Cookies

Beat the softened butter with the confectioners’ sugar. Add the egg yolks and kaymak, then sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together. Overworking it makes it tough; mutaki should have a sandy, crumbly texture.

Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet, rub off the skins with a kitchen towel, and let them cool. Pulse them in a food processor to a medium-fine texture. Mix with the confectioners’ sugar, ground cardamom, and lightly beaten egg white. The filling should be moist enough to scoop and shape.

Divide the chilled dough in half and roll each half into a 3 mm-thick circle. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut each circle into 12 equal wedges, like slices of a cake. Keep the wide end of each triangle no wider than 5 cm; wider pieces will make thick, doughy rolls.

Place one 5 ml measure of filling at the wide end of each triangle. Fold the sides inward and roll tightly toward the point. Press the seam with your fingers. Arrange the cookies seam-side down on the baking sheet; seams facing up may open in the oven and let the filling leak out.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 355°F. Bake the cookies until the bottoms are lightly colored while the tops remain pale. Mutaki dry out if they brown; remove them when the edges turn a sandy golden color.

Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes; they will break if moved while hot. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely, then dust with confectioners’ sugar. They keep for 10 days in an airtight container.