Rugelach (Jewish Cookies) Recipe

Ingredients

2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C plus 4 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 C apricot preserves or raspberry jam
1 C loosely packed golden raisins, chopped (dried cherries or cranberries?)
1 1/4 C walnuts (1/4 lb), finely chopped
Milk for brushing cookies
Special Equipment: Parchment Paper, Small Offset Spatula

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

•Whisk together flour and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined well. Add flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, then flatten (in wrap) into a roughly 7 by 5 inch rectangle. Chill until firm, 8 to 24 hours.

•Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom of a 1 to 1 ½ deep large shallow baking pan with parchment paper.

•Cut dough into 4 pieces. Chill 3 pieces, wrapped in plastic wrap, and roll out remaining piece into a 12 by 8 inch rectangle on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment, then transfer to a tray and chill while rolling out remaining dough in same manner, transferring each to another sheet of parchment and stacking on tray.

•Whisk ½ C sugar with cinnamon.

•Arrange 1 dough rectangle on a work surface with a long side nearest you. Spread ¼ cup preserves evenly over dough with offset spatula. Sprinkle ¼ C raisins and a rounded ¼ C of walnuts over jam, then sprinkle with 2 Tbs cinnamon sugar.

•Using parchment as an aid, roll up dough tightly into a log. Place, seam side down, in lined baking pan, then pinch ends closed and tuck underneath. Make 3 more logs in the same manner and arrange 1 inch apart in pan. Brush logs with milk and sprinkle each with 1 tsp of remaining granulated sugar. With a sharp large knife, make ¾-inch deep cuts crosswise in dough (not all the way through) at one inch intervals. (If dough is too soft to cut, chill until firmer, 20 or 30 minutes.)

•Bake until golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool to warm in pan on a rack, about 30 minutes, then transfer logs to a cutting board and slice cookies all the way through.

Servings: About 44 Cookies