Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Engadiner Nusstorte
A buttery shortcrust tart filled with caramelized walnuts, the keeping cake of Switzerland's Engadine valley.
Swiss · medium · serves 12
prep 40 min · cook 40 min
~635 cal · 10g protein · 47g carbs · 48g fat · 3g fiber · 23g sugars · 16g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The Engadiner Nusstorte comes from the Engadine, the high valley of Switzerland's Graubünden, and is one of the country's most famous sweets. It was created for travellers and emigrants: a rich, sealed tart that keeps for weeks, ideal for carrying over the mountains.
Inside a firm, buttery shortcrust sits a filling of walnuts folded into a deep caramel of sugar, honey, and cream. Fully enclosed top and bottom, the tart protects its rich filling and only improves with a few days' rest, the caramel and pastry melding into something dense and irresistible.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 12
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup butter, cold
1 egg
2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
1
Make a shortcrust with the flour, cold butter, sugar (2 tbsp), and egg, then chill.
2
Caramelise the remaining sugar to amber, stir in the cream carefully, then the walnuts, and cool slightly.
✎ Chef’s note
Walnuts are the heritage nut of the Engadine valley in Graubunden and give the tart its signature deep caramel-walnut flavour; hazelnut or mixed-nut versions are modern variations. Take the caramel to a proper deep amber before adding the cream. A pale caramel makes a filling that is merely sweet, not complex.
3
Line a tin with two-thirds of the pastry, fill with the walnut caramel, and seal with a pastry lid.
4
Bake at 350F (180C) until golden, about 35 minutes, and rest a day or two before cutting.
Engadine valley tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bern. The country's language border is nicknamed the Roestigraben, the rosti ditch, running between German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland, which shows how far one potato cake has travelled as a piece of shorthand. The canton of Bern itself sits on both sides of that line.
🗺️
Switzerland. Rosti belongs to the German-speaking side, so firmly that the cultural line between German and French Switzerland is called the Roestigraben, the rosti ditch. Raclette is both a cheese and a meal, the wheel melted at the cut face and scraped onto potatoes with pickled onions and gherkins beside them.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Switzerland
RöstiSwitzerland’s golden potato cake, crisp outside, tender inside, flipped whole and served with pride.
Swiss Cheese FondueA communal pot of melted Gruyère and Emmental with white wine and garlic, for dipping bread.
ÄlplermagronenAlpine macaroni baked with potato, cream, and cheese, topped with fried onions and served with applesauce.
Browse all Switzerland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Switzerland meal
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Frequently asked questions
What is Engadiner Nusstorte?
A buttery shortcrust tart filled with caramelized walnuts, the keeping cake of Switzerland's Engadine valley.
Where does Engadiner Nusstorte come from?
Engadiner Nusstorte is a Swiss dish from Bern, Switzerland.
Can Engadiner Nusstorte be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Engadiner Nusstorte recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Engadiner Nusstorte safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Engadiner Nusstorte take to make?
About 80 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 12.
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