Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Tuesdays with Dorie - Rugelach: Taste 10, Looks 7

You say roo-ga-lach and I say roo-ga-la...whatever way you pronounce it these little (or not so little) "cookies" are more like a small pastry and absolutely delicious.  And they provided the perfect opportunity to use all those bits and bobs left over from Christmas baking.  The dough is made in a stand mixer and the fillings went together in the food processor in only a few minutes.  Get the recipe from this Tuesday's hosts, Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker.



The dough:  The dough was simple to assemble in the stand mixer and very rich with butter and cream cheese.  I made it almost a week ahead of baking the cookies and the long refrigeration didn't affect the taste or texture; a real plus if you're making these during the holidays and have to fit your baking into a busy schedule. Once it's very cold the dough is easy to roll, although you have to work fast and refrigerate each batch while you assemble the next one.

Apricot and prune lekvar:  These also took only minutes to make in the food processor after a short time on the stove to soften the dried fruit and the reward for the extra effort was deep flavor and a filling that held up during the baking process.


The results:  Taste 10, looks 7.  It'll take some practice to get a full batch of these cookies that are consistent in size.  I didn't add any chopped, dried fruit after spreading the lekvar on the dough and I put the sugar and nut mixture on the inside and rolled the outside in the cinnamon sugar.  They were a big hit with the Sunday lunchers.  Even the dieters had seconds!

10 comments:

Gretchen Noelle said...

Your rugelach look very nice. I thought the prune levkar was especially delicious!

Rebecca said...

Wow, yours look awesome! Glad they were a hit. Mine disappeared at the office pretty quickly.

Julia said...

I'm jealous! Yours look perfect!

Wendy (pinkstripes) said...

HIgher taste score always trumps a high look score.

Cher Rockwell said...

Have to love those "kitchen sink" recipes that let you use up the odds and ends...
Your cookies look great!

lauren said...

Yes i agree about getting uniform sizes on the crescent style ones. I found it easier to roll and slice. Great job!

Judy said...

Love the crescent shape. They look great.

Jen said...

your rugelach looks more like a 10 to me ;)

Lynne Daley said...

Your crescent-shaped rugelach looks great!

Lisa said...

Your rugelach are nicely uniform in size and shape. Great job!
-Lisa