Saturday, November 29, 2008

Rugelach

These are my favorite cookies - a nice soft cream cheese dough, stuffed with a mix of sugar, cranberries, pecans, butter, and spices.















I put out a plate on Thanksgiving, and they all disappeared.















I guess I'll have to make another batch (or 4!) for Christmas.

I'm submitting this recipe to Food Blogga's Eat Christmas Cookies event. Click here for the roundup of entries already submitted, or on the logo below to see how to submit your favorite Christmas Cookie recipe!










Rugelach

4 oz cream cheese
8 oz butter
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 t salt

2/3 c sugar
1 c dried cranberries or raisins
1/3 c chopped toasted pecans or walnuts
8 oz butter
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t nutmeg

1 egg, beaten with a little water
sugar for sprinkling

Beat the butter and cream cheese together. Mix in flour, then sugar and salt. Form into 6 balls, and flatten them into disks. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate about 4 hours.

Mix together the filling ingredients - You can do it in a food processor, or by hand. If you mix by hand, you'll have to chop up the cranberries.

Roll out one dough disk into an 8 inch circle. Cut into 8 equal wedges. Add a teaspoon or 2 of filling to each one. Fold in the corners of the wide end of the wedge, and roll up.

Brush cookies with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake on greased baking sheets for 16 minutes at 350.

17 comments:

Betts said...

Oh, I love those. Now I won't be able to stop thinking about them until I can eat some.

Bob said...

Those look familiar, what part of the world are they from? They sound wicked good, I love cream cheese dough.

Vicki said...

Hey Betts - Try the recipe, I've been making it since I was 15, you can't mess it up!

Hi Bob - They're Polish, but my Hungarian friends say they make something similar. Definitely delicious, wherever they're from.

Anonymous said...

This looks very interesting I might try them. I only recently discovered you can add cream cheese to dough.

Vicki said...

Hi Kiran -
I love cream cheese doughs, they're so easy to work with. Try the cookies, they're delicious!

Sister Cooks said...

Are they flakey like traditional ragulach or more melt in your mouth?

Vicki said...

Hey Sister Cooks - Kind of a mix of both, actually :)

Coffee and Vanilla said...

Wow, those sounds really delicious :)

Thank you for your comment Vicki, I bought recently this pepper and it has some seeds in it that I crush together with husks in mortar… and it is ok but yes, discarding seeds may help. You may want to use cotton / muslin spice bags:
http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=4192
which you remove at the end of cooking.

Enjoy your day, Margot

Vicki said...

Hi Margot -
I haven't found anyone who doesn't love 'em.
I never thought of bagging the pepper, I'll try that next time :)
Thanks!

Elle said...

Oh my gosh, they look fabulous! I've always been afraid to make those!

Vicki said...

Hi Elle -
Don't be scared! They're so easy and very forgiving. Only thing you have to be careful of is leaky burning sugar filling :)

Anonymous said...

I love rugelach -- especially with apricots. I've never thought of making them myself, so thanks for posting this. It's no wonder the plate was emptied -- yours look delicious!

Vicki said...

Hi Kelly -
I forgot about the apricot version! Now I have an excuse to make another batch :)

SYD said...

Mmmm I'm not the biggest Rugelach fan, but these look kind of yummy and easy to make?

Vicki said...

Hey BKS - Very easy, but a little fussy. Worth it, though.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

These look delicious! I love rugelach during the holiday season. Thanks!

Vicki said...

Hi Susan - Thanks! And thanks for hosting Eat Christmas Cookies!