Ridiculously Rich Rugelach – Dairy

So, people, we are going through difficult times but life must go on and time and tide won’t stop the holiday from coming and ya gotta eat. So some sweet richness makes it a bit easier to muddle through.

While I have a wonderful non-dairy recipe for rugelach from my in-law Rivky, I felt in honor of the holiday of Shavuot I needed a rich dairy version. This is another find on the King Arthur Flour recipe pages. * I found many different versions of rugelach all over but this combines sour cream, cream cheese and butter and if we are sinning, I say go all the way, indulgence indeed!

So gather your ingredients together and if you have a food processor this is ready in the blink of an eye (almost) but can be made in a mixer as well.

In processor put in flour, salt and sugar and whizz briefly together to combine. Then add on top the cold cubed butter, cream cheese and sour cream. Indulgent yes, and no you cannot substitute anything.

Pulse, pulse, pulse just till it forms a ball of dough like so:

It should be soft and almost silky in texture. Remove from processor and wrap in plastic wrap to cool in fridge for an hour.

This will make the dough much much easier to roll out and work with. Don’t skip the resting of the dough in the fridge, really.

In the resting period, make your filling, right in the same food processor.

Put in the sugar, walnuts, dried cranberries and cinnamon and pulse together.

Set aside.

Your dough has rested and you at this point have a choice. This dough gets cut in four equal pieces each of which you make 12 rugelach from. If you are a small crowd you may wish to separately wrap some of the dough up and freeze (freezes awesomely well) or alternatively make the whole lot bake and freeze, which I do and it retains its amazing flakiness. Up to you. Onward 😃!

K, roll out 1/4 of the dough into a circle with a rolling pin on a silpat or a piece of parchment paper, moderately sprinkling with flour first, top and bottom so it doesn’t stick. Don’t be TOO heavy handed or you overwhelm the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

After rolling out the dough, take a pastry brush or spoon and brush the jam of your choice on the circle of dough. The jam makes a big difference to the filling sticking nicely and also has a strong effect on taste so choose a flavor you like, be it strawberry (without big chunks) rasberry, apricot etc. and brush it all about.

You can leave some bits on if you wish. Now remember your filling? Now you take about 4 tablespoons per 1/4 of dough and sprinkle over the jam of choice, covering the whole circle, like so:

Now roll up the rugelach from the wide side to the middle point, one at a time like so:

Place the finished rugelach on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and brush tops with a little milk and sprinkle with a bit of sugar on top.

Place in hot oven and bake 20-25 minutes or till richly browned, crispy and flaky. Let cool enough not to burn your tongue. Try not to swoon with pleasure. May we have a happy, joyous and calm holiday!!

Ridiculously Rich Rugelach – Dairy

Dough

1 cup (227g) cold butter

3/4 cup (170g) cream cheese

1/3 cup (74g) sour cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups (241g) All-Purpose Flour

Filling:

1/3 cup (106g) brown sugar, packed

4 tablespoons white sugar

1 cup (113g) walnuts, chopped, OR pecans if you want it less bitter

1/4 cup-1/2 cup (32-65g) dried cranberries

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Jam for spreading on dough. Apricot is tangy, not everyone likes it so consider also raspberry, strawberry or other jam you like

milk and granulated sugar for topping

Directions:

I make this in a food processor since it’s much faster and easier but it can be made in a mixer. For the mixer, just beat softened butter, cream cheese and sour cream together and add the flour, salt and sugar and mix just till formed.

For the food processor, Place the flour, sugar and salt in the food processor. Pulse briefly to combine. Put the COLD cubed butter, sour cream and cream cheese on top of the flour mixture. Pulse just until the dough forms a ball.

Scoop out the dough, pat into ball and wrap and place in fridge for an hour. This resting makes the dough more tender and will make rolling the dough out much easier so don’t skip it.

While dough rests make the filling. In same unwashed processer, pulse the sugar, walnuts or pecans, dried cranberries and cinnamon in a food processor or blender just till finely chopped but don’t turn into a paste. You want to be able to sprinkle this over the dough. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

Divide the dough into four equal parts and pat into circles.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, place it on a moderately floured piece of parchment paper or silpat. Roll it into a circle and brush with a thin layer of jam of your choice, just fish out any big pieces of preserves.

Sprinkle about 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 of) the filling onto the jam on the dough, all the way to the edges and gently patting down the filling to help it stick to the dough.

With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 equal wedges. Roll each wedge up, beginning with the wide end and rolling to the center of the circle till you form a rolled cookie, ending with the narrow end. Put the rugelach on a parchment lined baking sheet, with a bit of space between them. Do the same with each piece of dough.

Brush the tops of the rugelach with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake the rugelach for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown, crispy and flaky. Remove from the oven, and cool in pan on racks.

These freeze extremely well maintaining their crispiness even after freezing. Rich and delicious!

* https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/rugelach-recipe