Grandma Liz' Nut Rolls (aka Horseshoe Cookies)

The cookie to end all cookies.  The taste of my childhood.  The taste of Christmas.

Dough:

2 c butter at room temp.
1 t salt
2 c sour cream
8 egg yolks
7 c flour, about
zest from one lemon
 
Beat together the butter, salt, sour cream, egg yolks and zest.  Stir in the flour
in small batches.  Roll sections of dough into one inch balls (about 95 or so).  Put
in fridge overnight layered on sheets of waxed paper and cover the whole plate.
 

Filling:
 
5 egg whites
4 to 4 1/2 c ground walnuts
2 c sugar
 
Beat egg whites till white and frothy then keep beating while slowly adding
the sugar. Stir in the walnuts.  This gets sticky.
 

Making the cookies:
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out each dough ball thinly to about a 6 or 7 inch circle.  About a quarter of the way down from the top of each circle of dough, squeeze out a row of the nut filling across.  The nut filling is done best by putting into a cookie press and squeezing the line of filling onto the cookie.  Start rolling the dough down from the line of nut filling and mold into a long horseshoe shape.  Put on cookie sheets and bake 20 minutes.  When cooled, cover in powdered sugar.
 
Keep in an air tight container on rows of waxed paper.