Start with an onion . . .: Rugelach

Rugelach is a European pastry that is traditionally made with only butter in the pastry. The addition of cream cheese is a North American variation. The dough can be rolled up with all sorts of fillings like walnuts, cinnamon, chocolate, marzipan, poppy seed or jam.

Since unbaked rugelach freezes well, you can bake only what you need and freeze the rest. It appears there are literally dozens of variations of rugelach recipes. This one comes from Bonnie Stern from an internet search. I really respect Stern's recipes – she hasn't steered me wrong over the years.

Rugelach is a very rich dessert so don't make them bigger than the recipe says. It takes a couple of tries to get the hang of rolling the little beggars, but practice makes perfect.

I had never even heard of Rugelach before this week - but I needed something to include in the current issue of Solovei and this is what I settled on. Of course Martha Stewart's look like works of art–and made me wish I had an army of pastry chefs as I rolled dough that kept crumbling. But they came out yummy anyways!

And now, the caveats:

Make sure you use really cold butter. That's important in making pastry, in general.

I'm usually too impatient to chill the pastry once it's mixed, but it's an important step in this case.

Work on just one circle at a time while you keep the others refrigerated.

I'm a parchment paper person so I rolled the dough out between two pieces. It was a bit crumbly to start, but once I started rolling, it rolled out nicely. Any edges that crumbled off, I just patted back in place with my fingers.

Be careful not to overdo the filling because if the jam leaks out it makes a big sticky mess that will burn. And oh yes, I used plum jam.

Rugelach

Pastry

2 cups flour

1 cup cold butter, cut in cubes

1 cup cold cream cheese, cut in cubes

Filling

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup finely copped toasted pecans

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup coarse sugar

Place flour in a in a food processor or large bowl.

Cut butter into flour until crumbly.

Cut cream cheese into mixture and combine to form a dough. (Be careful not to overprocess if you are using a food processor.)

Divide dough into 4 balls and wrap in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate a few hours or overnight.

Combine brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon.

Roll each ball of dough into a 10 inch circle. If you put it between two pieces of parchment, it will roll more easily. You can sprinkle some flour before you roll to reduce sticking. When the dough is the right size, you might want to take a metal spatula and just loosen it from the paper.