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Buttery and flaky with just a little chew from the meringue nut filling inside--these cookies aren't easy to make, but are worth the effort! Joanie G. asked us to find the recipe which she remembered making from a flour/sour cream/butter/yeast dough rolled around a nut meringue. We found two versions: One, a Yugoslav Kifle (Filled Butterhorn) once appeared on Fleischmann's Yeast package labels. The other, a Flaky Sweetheart Crescent, was a winning recipe from Mrs. Doris Komperda of Milwaukee, WI, in a Pillsbury Grand National Bakeoff. The latter recipe is included in the 1959 volume: “Pillsbury's Best 1000 Recipes: Best of the Bake-Off Collection,”--just re-released last year by Wiley Publishing, Inc. and reprinted with permission here. (See our "Books to Buy" section) Testing both recipes, we found the Yugoslav Kifle recipe easier (dough was more manageable) but the Flaky Sweetheart Crescent tastier (more buttery and flaky--pictured above.) Try both to see which you prefer.

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Sift flour and salt into large mixing bowl. Cut in butter until fine. Set aside.
In small bowl, blend egg yolks with sour cream. Add 1 tsp vanilla and dry yeast. Mix well. Add to flour-butter mixture and stir to form dough.
Gather dough into a ball. Separate into four equal portions. If dough is to difficult to gather, sprinkle with just enough ice water to make a more-manageable dough.
Refrigerate dough for up to two days. When ready to bake, let dough stand at room temperature for 1 hour before rolling out.
In the meantime, make the filling by beating egg whites until stiff. Stir in one cup sugar 3/4 cup ground pecans and 1 tsp vanilla
Roll out dough on surface sprinkled with sugar. Roll to 11-inch circle, 1/8-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Spread 1 Tbsp filling at the wide end of each wedge. Starting at the wide end of each wedge, carefully roll to point to make crescent.
Grease baking sheet. Place crescents point-side down on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden.

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 Tbsp boiling water
1 envelope Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup (1 stick) Fleischmann's margarine, softened
1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cups unsifted all purpose flour
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup finely chopped Planters Walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites, beaten until the hold firm peaks
Confectioners sugar
Melted Fleischmann's margarine

Mix sour cream and boiling water. Stir in undissolved Fleischmann's yeast. Let stand three minus. Stir until yeast is completely dissolved. Set aside.
Place softened margarine and 1/2 cup flour in electric mixer bowl. Add sour cream mixture and beat one minute on low speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg yolks and 1/4 cup flour; beat at medium speed one minute, scraping bowl as needed.
Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly-floured board; knead 8 to 10 minutes. Dough will not be smooth. Divide dough into three, equal pieces. Wrap and chill at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.
Combine walnuts, sugar and vanilla. Fold in stiffly-beaten egg whites.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a board dusted with confectioners sugar, roll each piece of dough into a 10-inch circle; cut each into 8, pie-shaped wedges. Top wide edge of each wedge with 1 Tbsp nut meringue. Roll up from wide end to point to make crescent.
Place on greased baking sheets, with points underneath. Brush with melted Fleischman's Margarine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Flaky Sweetheart Crescents

Yugoslav Kifle (Filled Butterhorn Cookie)