Tuesday, March 06, 2012

TWD: BWJ - Rugelach

I am a huge fan of rugelach. (Pronounced at my house as roo-gah-lach with a little throat clearing on the last syllable) It's a staple at Jewish events that require baked goods, which, now that I think about it is just about any Jewish event... Anyway, the traditional style is a cream cheese pastry crescent that is stuffed with a fruit/nut mixture. This version was turned around a bit, and we made ours in a pinwheel.

This is not a difficult recipe, but there are a few steps. The good news is that the steps could be spread out over a couple of days. The first step is to make the dough. I did mine in the food processor. I like doing that because I can use cold dairy. In this case it was three sticks of butter and one brick of cream cheese. Not so low fat, this recipe. It calls for a minimal amount of sugar because the filling is sweet. Once the dough came together, I separated it into two disks and put it in the fridge overnight. This recipe calls for homemade filling called levkar. The traditional versions are apricot and prune. I'll fully cop to being lazy on this one, and I used jam for my filling. The dough rolled out pretty easily with only a small amount of flour. The key here is keeping it cold. I rolled a bitand put it back in the fridge. Then I rolled again and was ready to fill. This version is pretty quick because of the jelly-roll style of filling. I spread apricot jam on the dough and sprinkled it with a cinnamon sugar mix and toasted almonds. The second version used raspberry jam, cinnamon sugar, mini chocolate chips, and toasted pecans. The rolled up dough went back in the fridge for another chill.

Then it was slicing time. Dorie's version calls for a pretty substantial slice. I've made this style before following Smitten Kitchen's recipe. She uses a thinner slice. I like the thinner cookie as opposed to a thicker pastry, so that's how I sliced these. They got a sprinkle of coarse sugar and went into the oven. I had to watch my baking time.

These came out just great. I love the cream cheesy pastry swirled with the sweet jam and nutty fillings. I didn't venture out of my comfort to make these thicker, but I am sure they would have turned out really well. I will note that the Smitten Kitchen recipe uses one less stick of butter. I'm not sure that it was really necessary in the finished product for me.

Here they are side by side.

Here's the apricot/almond version.

And the raspberry/chocolate/pecan version.

Go visit Jessica of My Baking Heart or Margaret of The Urban Hiker for this week's recipe.

60 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic!! I didn't even know they were Jewish until I read your blog!!!

Amanda said...

I love the look of these with the color contrast! I also love the idea of a thinner cookie, maybe next time. :)

Im At Home Baking said...

I love how everyone's look so different and delicious!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Love the flavors you chose!

Rebecca said...

Gorgeous! I think you were smart to hold back on the filling, mine unraveled all over. :)

Jodie said...

I like the thin version. Your combos sound great!

Karen @ SoupAddict said...

Very, very nice - they look part cookie/part pastry. Love it!

Strychnine said...

I'm coming over to help you eat them all. I'll bring the coffee. My god, they're gorgeous!! Well done.

Julia said...

I also sliced them thinner and thought they were pretty good that way.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty pictures. I wish my spiral had looked so nice!

Kate said...

They look lovely

Wendy (pinkstripes) said...

Your rugelach look great! I like the variation.

Yuri - Chef Pandita said...

So pretty! Love the two colors and how you cut them. Must try this next time I make rugelach :)

Unknown said...

thinner seems to be the way to go - yours turned out beautifully

Unknown said...

Both of the versions look great!

Cindy said...

I like your method of cutting them thinner. They look yummy. I made the recipe as written right down to the prune levkar. Great TWD recipe.

Carlene said...

I think I will make mine thinner next time...good idea!

Carlene said...

I think I will make mine thinner next time...good idea!

Heather said...

Yours look fantastic! I wish I'd rolled mine into a bigger roll like yours, they may have actually held up in the oven!

Cher Rockwell said...

The thin slices look so pretty. I like how so many people found ways to change it up.

lauren said...

I also sliced mine thin = more cookies :) Great job!

Jill said...

They look fabulous!

Dawn said...

Oh yeah, I'm totally slicing mine thinner next time I make them, and omitting the cinnamon-sugar on top. Yours are beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I love seeing all the variations. Yours look great.

Unknown said...

Lovely; the apricot almond is calling my name! With how much I love Jewish baked goods, I'm pretty sure I was Jewish in a past life. ;)

Jen said...

your rugelach looks absolutely amazing!

Mandrake said...

The thin swirls are pretty. I can't believe I didn't use my plum jam. Great idea.

Lynne Daley said...

Looks great! I like the idea of the thinner cookies.

Julie said...

Raspberry Chocolate Pecan - Apricot Almond....I am glad they are not at my house. They look delicious!

Erik said...

I actually did really love them--they are one of my favorites...have been eating them all of my life. It is just that anything with sugar or gluten does not agree...which I guess is nuts that I am even doing this!

Lisa said...

Jules:
These look perfect. Now I wish I'd made a few in this fashion. Sliced thin as they are, you can really see the filling ingredients.
-Lisa

Michelle Stiles said...

Thank goodness for Deb at Smitten Kitchen! I like the thinner cookie version that you successfully created. This made a lot of cookies, rich cookies. They were great but intensive. I might have ate the lekvar right out of the jar with a spoon....

Kris' Kitchen said...

Very pretty rugelach...your thin cuts with the beautiful fillings are so inviting. Also enjoyed reading your write-up for this recipe. Nice baking.

Jess Wakasugi {Life's Simple Measures} said...

From a fellow TWD baker, I LOVE that your combination using the chocolate chips! That never even crossed my mind but oo, I be that would be fabulous. I need to start thinking outside the box ;)

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Love your big ol' pinwheels! They're gorgeous, Jules! :)

Unknown said...

Yours look great!!! It was my first time making them and I loved them!!

Libby said...

Your rugelach look delicious! I love that you used coarse sugar and sliced them thin. Great photos!

Anonymous said...

Your pinwheel version looks great! :)

Anonymous said...

Love your pinwheels! They turned out great :)

Bev said...

Yes, they were butter laden- I gulped when I saw 3 sticks + the cream cheese; but they were most enjoyable!

Pamela said...

I would be all over that raspberry/chocolate/pecan version. Fantastic.

spike. said...

Beautiful! The filling sounds great

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