Tags
dreid fruit, jam, lekvar, nuts, pastry
Shoo, the first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for March really challenged me! But, it also challenged my brand new, beautiful, shiny Kenwood Titanium Major – so much in love! I was spoilt with a very early birthday present by my lovely fiancé after I’d been boring him with my whining about how all these recipes were so challenging without a stand mixer.
For those who are as clueless as I was when I first saw this recipe, rugelach is a Jewish pastry. It is made from a cream cheese pastry, spread with lekvar (a jam or butter made from dried fruit), sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, chopped nuts and dried fruit and then rolled up and dipped in nutty, cinnamon sugar. All this is then baked in the oven until the sugar has caramelised and the smell is more than you can bear!
So, how did it go? Well, the apricot lekvar went really smoothly (no pun intended!). I used lemon juice, rather than the amaretto, for no reason other than personal choice. It was quick and easy, and I really enjoyed the sweet yet slightly tart flavour.
The cream cheese pastry was super easy in my new mixer, it all came together really easily and then went into the fridge for chilling – there is a lot of chilling in this recipe, so be sure to have lots of time on your hands!
The wonderful fiancé did a sterling job of chopping the dried fruit up for me, his chopping skills far surpass mine and his patience is enviable when it comes to that sort of thing. I win the patience battle in other areas though 😉
The troubles started when it came time to filling and rolling the dough with its insides up – I don’t see how with the dough at the width that is prescribed in the recipe one can achieve the roll that appears in the recipe book. Partly I think this is my fault for putting too much topping on the rolled out dough, but I don’t think it was the only problem. To me it seemed like if I hadn’t cut the dough in half as instructed I would have had a much better chance of rolling the rugelach up like a wheel.
Never mind, I rolled them up as best I could, re-chilled them and then baked them until they looked lovely and ready to eat. Never having tasted rugelach before it is hard to say whether they taste “right”, but they tasted good – I really like the cream cheese pastry, and the dried fruit and nuts were great settled in amongst the lekvar, all topped off by the sweet, crunchiness of the cinnamon sugar.
All that being said, I’m not sure I’d make them again in a hurry – I’m not really a dried fruits kind of girl and they were a lot of work. I think there are way more delicious treats out there that don’t require so much chilling and rolling and prepping! But it’s my own personal thing.
Beverly Winchester said:
They look gorgeous & oh so yummy! It seems that the filling overload was a question for many of the bakers!
Saira said:
Looks perfect …. !!! you did a very good job 🙂 i loved these cookies … !!! it was a bit tricky to make but it was so worth the effort … !!!!!
pamela pinnavaia (@cookieswithboys) said:
Looks great! Yeah, these are not something I would make on a moments notice. Definitely something good for the holidays or special ocassions. Still, so many cookies, so little time! :).
Bam's Kitchen said:
Look how tidy your kitchen is???? Awesome, mine after an event like this would be lets say seasoned. (flour on every surface) Cookies turned out lovely.
Im At Home Baking said:
Wonderful! I really had fun making these.
Gretchen Noelle said:
A new stand mixer AND a fiance who’s a good chopper?! Both very good things to have in life!
Cher said:
They look like they came out beautifully.
Congrats on your new addition – I am sure you will get a HUGE work out with it in the recipes to come.
Rebecca said:
Yeah, these were difficult. Still, fun to try something new. 🙂
Baker on the Rise said:
Agreed, hard but the fun was the challenge!
Julia said:
Yours look great!
steph (whisk/spoon) said:
i thought the recipe seemed to call for too much filling also. i just used what looked good to me. these look really tasty, though–way to break in the new mixer!
Wendy said:
Your rugelach look great! Congrats on the new mixer. 🙂
Amanda said:
Getting a new mixer has to be one of the best feelings in the world! 😉 Your rugelach looks delicious!
Jen said:
that was so sweet of your fiance to buy you a stand mixer 🙂 I also used to bore my boyfriend to death with my complaints about not having a stand mixer (first world problems) until my mom finally bought me one.
alisonamazed said:
Where’s the recipe? I remember eating something like this in Hungary.
crumblyplum said:
I think the lekvar is Hungarian, so that makes sense! Part of the rules of Tuesdays with Dorie is that only the host posts the recipe, so check out the TwD website for a link to this weeks hosts.
alisonamazed said:
I looked and couldn’t find it. I would think you could post the link. If you can’t well, then….a waste of time.
alisonamazed said:
I looked and couldn’t find it. I would think you could post the link. If you can’t well, then….a waste of time.
crumblyplum said:
I found it very easily.
http://mybakingheart.com/2012/03/06/twd-baking-with-julia-rugelach/
Or
http://www.theurban-hiker.com/?p=774
alisonamazed said:
Thanks! I couldn’t find it – found the page very ‘busy’.
crumblyplum said:
And wow, no need to be so cranky…normally post a link to the site, just happened to forget this week.
alisonamazed said:
🙂 Didn’t mean to post request twice – tech glitch. 🙂 Thanks again for the link. 🙂
crumblyplum said:
No problem, enjoy making the recipe 🙂
alwaysaddmorebutter said:
I felt the same way about the cookies – they tasted good but I’m definitely not on the fast track to making them again. I bought a bottle of amaretto because I was originally going to do the apricot lekvar but then changed my mind. Now I have to find something to do with the amaretto. Any ideas? 🙂
crumblyplum said:
Hehe…no ideas I’m afraid! I went with the lemon juice option, we’re not big amaretto fans and I had no idea what I’d do with a whole bottle! I know people who drink it with Coke?! 🙂
alisonamazed said:
Don’t people drink it as a brandy? In coffee? Guess I’ll be doing the lemon version 🙂 It’s the cream cheese pastry I’m most interested in
crumblyplum said:
If it’s like a brandy then drinking it with Coke would make sense to many Afrikaans South Africans – brandy and coke is very popular here!
crumblyplum said:
Oh, and the cream cheese pastry is lovely 🙂