Rugelach

These were so good I may eat the entire batch alone!

The recipe comes from Cooking With Memories by, Lora Brody. I made a few adjustments by omitting the nuts and using orange marmalade rather than apricot preserves. I'll post the original recipe and leave any customising to readers. I prepared a half-batch of this recipe today, and it worked well. The recipe below makes 4 dozen.

For the Dough:

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour, measured after sifting

-Cream the butter and cream cheese. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Add the dough and work until a soft ball. Divide the dough into four even portioned balls and wrap in plastic. Chill for a few hours (I did just under two and it was fine).

For the Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups golden raisins (I used red ones)
1 1/2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped (I omitted these and added extra raisins)

-Combine and stir well.



To Assemble:

1 12 ounce (1 1/2 cups) jar apricot preserves, heated
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon


-Remove the dough from icebox, and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. with the rack in the centre position. Line three heavy duty baking sheets with parchment (or as the author suggests, butter and lightly flour them).

One at a time, roll out each ball of dough until you have a round that is 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 12 triangles, as for pie. With a thin knife, loosen the triangles and spoon on a small bit of preserves. Spread a generous amount of filling on each and then beginning at the wide end, roll up into a crescent. Place on baking sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. Brush the rugalach with milk and sprinkle with the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool on racks and try not to eat them all at once!