Sunday, July 13, 2008

Chocolate Chip Rugelach

I think it's pretty fitting that I start off this blog with one of my favorite pastries, Rugelach! For those of you who don't know what Rugelach is, it's a Jewish pastry made out of a cream cheese dough and various fillings. Popular fillings include apricot jam, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, but my favorite is chocolate chip. For some reason, they're ridiculously expensive in bakeries ($1/per) so I prefer to just make them myself :) There's something about the flakey texture and the cream cheese flavor that makes them irresistible. Usually I don't eat much of what I bake, but I can't help myself with these... Hahaha... Maybe it's a good thing they're so time consuming and labor intensive, otherwise I would make them every day.


Here's the recipe that I used, taken from my favorite cookbook: Great Cookies by Carole Walter. My tips are in italics.

Cream Cheese Pastry:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spponed in and leveled, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup strained confectioners' sugar, spooned and leveled

Chocolate Chip Filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp. strained unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 to 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup mini-chocolate chips
confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and thoroughly blended. Very, very important to make sure they are both room temperature before you start!
2. Mix in 1 cup of the flour and the salt, working until almost incorporated. Cut in another 1/2 cup flour with the spoon, again working it until the flour is almost incorporated. Complete the process by kneading in another 1/2 cup flour. Do not overwork. (Note: The remaining 1/4 cup of flour is used for rolling.) You might have to knead with your hands to gain more control. Try not to overmix the dough, otherwise it won't be flakey.
3. With lightly floured hands, shape dough into a mound, then divide in half and form two 5-inch disks. Dust the disks lightly with a little flour, score with the side of your hands to even the tops, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days. I was pressed for time, so I only chilled it for an hour... turned out okay.
4. Remove the dough from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling. Dust a pastry board or other flat surface with the remaining flour and w/ the confec. sugar.
5. Divide 1 disk of the dough into thirds, coat each third lightly with the flour and form into cylinders. Working with one cylinder at a time, roll it into a long rectangle approximately 5 inches wide and 18 inches long, about 1/16 inches wide. The thinner you roll it, the faster it will bake, so try to roll it semi-thin... Also, cut off the messy edges with a knife or pastry wheel.
6. Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon and cocoa, and sprinkle the strip of dough with this mixture. If you are using walnuts, sprinkle some on top, and use the rolling pin to press them into the dough. Then, line the chocolate chips along one edge of the rectangle. Be very generous with sprinkling sugar on top -- you want to make sure your rugelach gets the chocolate flavor!
7. Roll up the dough starting with the edge with the chocolate chips. OR - Cut triangles at 2-inch intervals and roll it up.
8. Place on cookie sheets. Chill for 1/2 hour. I left my rugelach in logs, but I think next time I'll cut them into pieces before I bake them...It'll turn out a lot prettier. Also, I didn't chill it for half and hour bad.... but luckily it turned out okay.
9. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the rugelach are golden brown.
10. When cooled, sprinkle with confec. sugar. This is when I cut them into pieces, and it got kinda messy.... but still tasted wonderful!



(the mound)


(I didn't have a rolling pin, so I used a POM glass. Pretty ghetto, I know...)


(I laid parchment paper on my cookie sheets -- makes cleaning up so much easier!)


(Ta-Da!!!! My small group absolutely devoured these little guys)

1 comment:

steve(n) said...

Question.

Instead of confectioner's sugar, what if you used really coarsely granulated sugar?

I want to try it!