Tuesdays With Dorie : Rugelach

The first recipe of March for Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) is Rugelach.. According to Wikipedia, it is a Jewish pastry of Ashkenazic origin.. Baking with Julia (BWJ) version of it is made with cream cheese dough and filled with very thick dried fruit butter (called lekvar), nuts, dried fruits and cinnamon sugar.. The end-product is big, sweet, flaky, nutty and delicious rugelach..

Surprisingly (although my husband is Jewish), I had not tasted rugelach before.. The first thing I did before tackling baking them was to buy some from a bagel store, in order to have an idea about what to expect.. The ones I bought from the store were tiny, soft and tasty.. After tasting variety of fillings, I decided to make mine with apricot lekvar (BWJ gives you prune or apricot lekvar options), almonds, walnuts and raisins.. and of course cinnamon sugar, which is a must..

Overall, I found the process of baking the rugelach easy.. But it requires patience with all the wait times to chill the dough.. I divided the tasks to be completed into 2 days: On Thursday I prepared the apricot lekvar, prepared the dough, rolled and filled the rugelach, and left the rolls in the fridge overnight.. On Friday, I sliced them, coated with cinnamon sugar-nuts mixture and baked.. Here are my comments on the steps:

Instagram by Ferda :
Preparing the apricot lekvar

     - Apricot lekvar: is very easy to make and delicious.. Paste of dried apricots, brown sugar, lemon juice and almonds.. BWJ says it goes well with brioche, croissants and toasted whole wheat bread.. I think they would also be a very good condiment on a cheese board.. I will try when I have company next time..

     - Cream cheese dough: comes together very easily, and also easy to roll.. It is soft but not sticky.. And delicious and flaky once cooked..
    
     - Fillings: listed in the recipe are too much for the amount of dough.. If I spread total amount on the rolled dough, it would be impossible to roll-up.. I ended up using only half of the lekvar, cinnamon sugar, and raisins..

     - Rolling-up: was not very easy even though I did not use total amount of fillings.. It might have helped if I put the dough back in the fridge for a bit and cool down in between rolls, since it gets more difficult to deal with when it stays out of the fridge for a while..

Instagram by Ferda :
Slicing the rugelach

     - Slicing: was piece of cake because I left the rolls in the fridge overnight, and they were solid when slicing..

     - Baking: was tricky.. There was definitely a learning curve for me there.. I baked the first batch for 25 minutes as recommended, but did not double the baking trays since I only have one.. And that batch of rugelach got overcooked - dark and dry.. I thought if this was it, this recipe definetely did not worth the effort.. Then, I baked the second batch for only 20 minutes, and they were golden and delicious.. Everything promised in the book.. And yes, they definitely worth the effort :)

Conclusion: I was pleasently surprised with the end result.. My rugelach were delicious.. I will definetely bake this recipe in the future, and play around with the fillings.. I still have to try the prune lekvar, which - I heard from My little yellow cookbook - is delicious.. And also, my husband liked them a lot too with the disclaimer that they were not the traditional rugelach.. They are better :)

You can find the actual recipe at page 325 of Baking with Julia, or from this week's hosts' blogs: The Urban Hiker and My Baking Heart.. 

Coming in two weeks : Irish Soda Bread :)

Korova Cookies...

Here is another recipe that I tried last weekend... The original recipe is from Dorie Greenspan like the French Apple Cake recipe I posted today... I found this one at Cafe Fernando, and had my eyes on it for a while now...

These cookies are sent from heaven for those who love chocolate and especially bitter chocolate... I personally am not a big fan of chocolate desserts or bitter chocolate, but still liked a lot the cruncy texture of these cookies and also the salt after taste due to some sea salt in the recipe (The recipe recommends fleur de sel, but tells that can be substituted for sea salt)... I guess I should buy one of Dorie Greenspan's books - if all of her recipes are this straight forward and end results are this good it will worth the purchase...

Below is the original recipe from Cafe Fernando, with my comments in parentheses and italic... Another good thing about the recipe is that you can freeze half of the dough and use later... It can be kept frozen for a month...


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KOROVA COOKIES RECIPE
recipe from “Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City’s Best Pastry Shops” by Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
Yields 28 cookies (half of my dough made 11 cookies, a bit less than what Cafe Fernando says, I might have cut my cookies bigger than his)

1+1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (30 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used ordinary cocoa powder)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (150 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (120 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (I used sea salt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces (150 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small bits (I used 70% chocolate)
Method

1- Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together and keep close at hand.
2- Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until the butter is soft and creamy. (I don't have a KitchenAid stand mixer, so I used the dough hook of the hand mixer for the stages 2,3 and 4)
3- Add both sugars, the salt, and vanilla extract and beat for another minute or two.
4- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the sifted dry ingredients. Mix only until the dry ingredients are incorporated. For the best texture, you want to work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added.
5- Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
6- Turn the dough out onto a smooth work surface and squeeze it so that it sticks together in large clumps. Gather the dough into a ball, divide it in half, and working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1-1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter.
7- Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill them for at least 2 hours. (Wrapped airtight, the logs can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 1 month.)
8- Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and keep them close at hand.
9- Working with a sharp thin-bladed knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.
10- Place the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) spread space between them.
11- Bake only one sheet of cookies at a time, and bake each sheet for 12 minutes. The cookies will not look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be.
12- Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies stand until they are only just warm or until they reach room temperature.
13- Repeat with the second sheet of cookies.
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Bon Appetit! Enjoy!