Warm the evaporated milk to 110 degrees F. Stir in a half teaspoon of sugar and the yeast. If using dry yeast, let it sit for 5-10 minutes to activate. It's ready when it has a foamy layer on top.
Mix all of the dough ingredients with an electric mixer until the dough comes away from your mixing bowl clean. Place in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
filling
Grind or finely chop the walnuts. I like to use the food processor, working in small batches.
Melt the butter. Combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl or container. I use a rectangular container so I can mark off 12 equal portions.
assemble and bake
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Take the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 12 equal portions. Sprinkle sugar on your counter or table and roll a ball of dough in sugar until it is 12-14" by 8-10". Spread a portion of filling on it, leaving about an inch on all sides. Slowly roll from one of the long sides.
Tuck the ends under and place the roll seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I place three rolls on a jelly roll pan to keep the nut rolls from spreading too much. Sprinkle each roll with a little more sugar.
Bake each pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until golden brown.
Let nut rolls cool about 15 minutes before very carefully transferring them from the baking sheet to foil sheets.
When completely cooled, wrap tightly in foil. I hear they freeze well, but they never made it that far in our house.
When serving, cut each nut roll into 12 slices. It seems kinda unfair, but one slice is a serving.
Enjoy!
Notes
Prepare the dough the day before you intend to bake the nut rolls. Since this recipe makes 12 rolls, give yourself plenty of time on baking day.