Tuesday, March 6, 2012

TWD - Rugelach

This week's selection for Tuesdays with Dorie / Baking with Julia is Rugelach, hosted by Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker.  Rugelach is a rustic, rich cookie with a butter and cream cheese dough that is filled, rolled, sliced and baked.  






The recipe is on pages 325-326 of the Baking with Julia book or posted on the blogs of the hostesses calls for a filling of apricot or prune lekvar, assorted nuts and dried fruits, and a cinnamon/sugar mixture.  There is a reference to a recipe for the lekvar (which I made) or you can find it at specialty grocery stores or online.


So that's the background, now here is how it went down:  

  • My plan was to make it over the weekend at our lake house.  I got the pastry dough and lekvar made then ran out of time and had to pack it all up in the cooler and bring it back to our other house.  
  • When I made the dough, I broke the cardinal rule of cooking and baking by not measuring all of the flour into a separate prep bowl.  Instead I was putting the three cups of flour directly into the food processor by half cup quantities.  Somewhere in the middle of mixing I was interrupted and lost track of where I was.  I believe I shorted it by a half cup of flour.
  • The apricot lekvar was easy and came together nicely.  I may make it again sometime with some added spices and/or herbs and use it as a spread on toast.  The only problem was that I needed two cups and the recipe said that it made 3/4 cup.  This led me to make 2 1/2 times the recipe so that I would have the right amount plus a little bit left.  As it turns out that one recipe makes quite a bit more than 3/4 cup.  I'm really glad I like it as a spread!!
  • My last mistake was not using a double pan with my second batch.  They burned a little bit on the bottom.  Batches 1, 3 and 4 were double panned and the result was a nice crunchy bottom
All that said, they look kind of sad but still tasted pretty darn good...even better with a glass of milk.



Now that I know the pitfalls, I will probably try to make them again soon and play around with some different fillings.  Nutella or chocolate would be close to the top of my list.

12 comments:

  1. These WERE tasty and that's what counts! I loved the lekvar too and have been using it as jam!

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    1. Me, too. I'll definitely make the lekvar again and play with some other flavors.

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  2. These were tasty, weren't they?
    I made half batches of both fillings and I still ended up with more than what the full recipe called for of each. Weird, huh?

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    1. I considered cutting it all in half before I started and then made the full recipe anyway. Glad the leftovers have multiple uses.

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  3. Love meeting my neighbors! ;)

    Your cookies look perfect to me - thanks so much for baking along this week!!

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  4. The yield for the lekvar was way off, but it has been really good mixed with cream cheese on toast, so it will definitely be eaten.

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  5. I'm glad you enjoyed them, I did as well :)

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  6. Oh yes, I did the Nutella. So good! Try them again soon!

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