Holiday Rugelach Recipes

RUGELACH

Steps:

• Make the dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and cream cheese at medium speed. Add sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beating to combine after each addition. Add vanilla and salt, and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low, and beat in flour. Remove from bowl, and divide into 3 pieces on a lightly floured surface. Pat into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight.
• Make the filling: In a food processor, combine walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse until fine.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats). On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough into a 12-inch round, less than 1/8 inch thick. Brush evenly with jelly. Sprinkle with one-third of the walnut mixture and one-third of the chocolate chips. Using the rolling pin, gently roll over filling to press ingredients into dough.
• Cut the round into 16 equal-sized wedges. Beginning at the base of each wedge, roll to enclose filling, forming crescent shapes. Pinch to seal. Place on prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough and filling ingredients. Brush tops with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

GOLDEN RUGELACH

Steps:

• For the dough: Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles coarse sand with some pea-size pieces of butter, about 20 pulses. Add the cream cheese and sour cream and pulse until it comes together in a rough dough, with some uneven pebble-size pieces. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and divide into four equal portions. Pat each portion into a flat square and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze for 15 minutes.
• For the filling: Meanwhile, chop the hazelnuts in a clean food processor. Add the preserves, raisins and salt and puree to make a very smooth paste.
• Roll a portion of dough into a 6- by 14-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. (Don't worry about slightly rough edges; these will be rolled inside of the rugelach.) Spread one-quarter of the filling over the surface with a small spatula. Starting with a long side, roll the dough up into a tight cylinder, ending with the seam on the bottom. Press the top slightly to flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze for another 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. (The cylinders can be frozen for up to a month.)
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and evenly position the racks. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Slice the cylinders into 1 1/2-inch pieces and place seam-side down on the prepared sheets. Whisk the egg yolks together and brush over the tops. Sprinkle with sugar and bake until pale golden and crispy on top, about 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the baking sheets. Carefully transfer the rugelach to a rack to cool. Store in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days.

HOLIDAY RUGELACH

Steps:

• In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy and smooth. Add 5 cups flour and combine. Add remaining flour in small batches, stopping when dough no longer sticks to sides of bowl (not all flour may be needed). If dough remains sticky after all the flour is used, add a little extra flour.
• Remove dough from mixing bowl; divide into four equal pieces and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough, one piece at a time, to rectangles of 1/8-inch thickness. With a sharp paring knife, score dough into 3-inch squares.
• Fill half the pastry with prune butter and half with apricot butter: Spoon one teaspoon of filling into one corner of each square, adding 3 or 4 raisins to the prune filling. Roll up each square from corner to corner, bending it into a crescent shape. Brush with egg wash.
• Combine sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle about a teaspoon over each crescent.
• Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Cool on baking racks.

RUGELACH

Steps:

• Cut cold butter or margarine and cream cheese into bits. In food processor pulse flour, salt, butter or margarine, cream cheese and sour cream until crumbly.
• Shape crumbly mixture into four equal disks. Wrap each disk and chill 2 hours or up to 2 days.
• Combine sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, and finely chopped raisins (may substitute miniature chocolate chips for raisins).
• Roll each disk into a 9 inch round keeping other disks chilled until ready to roll them. Sprinkle round with sugar/nut mixture. Press lightly into dough. With chefs knife or pizza cutter, cut each round into 12 wedges. Roll wedges from wide to narrow, you will end up with point on outside of cookie. Place on ungreased baking sheets and chill rugelach 20 minutes before baking.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• After rugelach are chilled, bake them in the center rack of your oven 22 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on wire racks. Store in airtight containers...they freeze very well.
• Variations: Before putting the filling on the dough, use a pastry brush to layer apricot jam as well as brown sugar. Then add the recommended filling. You may also make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and roll the rugelach in this prior to putting them on the cookie sheets.

RUGELACH

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt; beat until combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating to combine after each. With the mixer on low speed, beat in flour to combine. Mix in vanilla.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into three equal pieces, and shape into flattened disks; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325°F, with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a food processor, pulse together the walnuts, remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the cinnamon, and pinch of salt until finely ground; set aside. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one disk of dough into a 10-inch round about 1/4 inch thick. Brush the top evenly with melted jelly. Sprinkle with a third of the walnut mixture and a third of the currants. Using the rolling pin, gently roll over the round to press the filling into the dough.
• Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the round into 16 equal wedges. Beginning with the outside edge of each wedge, roll up to enclose filling. Place about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough and filling ingredients. Lightly beat the whole egg; brush over tops, and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
• Bake two sheets, rotating halfway through, until the cookies are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining baking sheet. Rugelach can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
• Rugelach how-to
• Rounds of cookie dough are covered with melted apricot jelly, ground walnuts, and currants, then cut into even wedges.
• The wedges are rolled up around the filling before baking.