Tuesday, March 6, 2012

TWD: Rugelach

It's Tuesdays with Dorie and my 100th post!! Woo-hoo!! Now if I only had a party to go to so I could bring dessert.


                                Rugelach



I was one tablespoon short of butter but I don't think it will make that much of a difference being there are three, yes three sticks of butter and the same amount of cream cheese. I was not liking the taste of my cream cheese though I used it anyway. I bought regular (not whipped) in the tub rather than the brick for it came in the amount of 12oz that was called for in the recipe. It did not taste bad, just different. Maybe the plastic tub imparts an odd flavor; next time I'll by the brick of cream cheese.

The dough was easy to throw together - 10 to 15 minutes tops, including taking photos. I made the dough on Thursday and put it in the freezer to finish on Monday.

Here it is Monday and I thought I would finish these up real quick; alas I did not realize I have to chill the filled dough for another 4 hours or overnight. Into the freezer they go for 2 hours!

To differentiate my two fillings I did one half of the dough crescent style (chocolate/cherry) and the other half rolled and sliced (fig/apricot) as per Dorie's instructions. Not only are the rolled and sliced easier, less time consuming, but a lot less waste of the filling. I noticed that smaller crescents roll a lot easier than the larger ones; go figure. The excess filling I will be throwing into the freezer for cookies later.

Speaking of waste, I felt the filling and coating measurements were excessive - I had a lot leftover. Maybe I did not put enough on my pastry as I was supposed to.

I wish I had made the fig/apricot in the crescent shape. They held their form a lot better than the rolled and are WAY better tasting then the chocolate/cherry flavor. Overall these are really good and as one other blogger asks her tester "are these a keeper?" Yes, they are.

For the recipe see this week's hosts' sites: Margaret and Jessica

Success meter (1-3): 3








Since I did not use any kind of jam with this,
I brushed the dough with melted butter so the
sugar mixture would adhere.

A large ice pack kept my dough the perfect
temperature while adding the filling.


The spilled out filling after rolling the
crescent shapes.



No spilled filling with the rolled version!




The directions should say to pinch the dough to seal.

The caramelized filling is to die for!

The second batch I baked seam side down rather
than cut side down. Fared a little better.

While still warm I scooped up the excess and
stuffed it back inside.

A lot of leftover filling and topping!






16 comments:

  1. Love the first picture - it almost looks like cookie sea art :-)
    I have to agree that the roll & slice method made much more sense than the traditional shaping.
    Congrats on post 100!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like your artistic photo with the sugar sculpture! I used my leftover fillings as a topping for our morning oatmeal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had a lot of leftover filling as well. If I had used all of it there is no way I would have come close to closing it. Yours look great.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm with you!! These are, without a doubt, keepers!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love that first photo! So dramatic!

    (And, agreed, the directions should say pinch to seal.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great picture!!! Looks delicious too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had too many leftovers too! I only put my rolled cookies in the fridge for about an hour instead of 4 ... worked fine. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. My hubby happened to pickup the regular cream cheese in a tub for me on a grocery run. I noticed that the consistency was a lot softer than the "brick", and there were a lot more ingredients (with those unpronounceable names) too. I concluded that regular meant "not low fat" and went back to the store to buy the bricks. Glad to see that your dough worked!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wasn't all the carmelization on the bottoms good? Yours look great. I think I've already eaten an entire roll myself.

    ReplyDelete
  10. looks delicious! I love how you positioned the rugelach with the caramelized sugar :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy 100 post! If it helps, the cream cheese (and butter) in a tub are not meant for baking. Too much air and whatever else makes it soft. Love your pics esp the one w the sugar art :) I had a ton of filling left too. A variation of cinnamon rolls perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your rugelach - both sorts - look amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very nice filling. Congratulations to your 100th post, I have mine (100th post) today. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love this recipe!! You have an artistic eye.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting! Would love to hear from you - feel free to comment.