Tuesday, March 6, 2012

TWD: Rugelachs

My rugelachs look more like rugelach slices.  In the interest of portion control, I sliced them a half-inch thick and reduced the baking time to 19 minutes.

Almost ten years ago, when I was living in Montreal, I used to stop by my local bagel shop on a weekly basis.  One day, while I was waiting to place my order, a small package of chocolate rugelachs caught my attention.  I had never so much as seen a rugelach before, but from what I could tell, they were cookies.  They were cookies and they contained chocolate. I had to buy them.

Upon returning home, I immediately sampled the cookies and they were delicious.  The chocolate filling was nice and chocolaty and the cookie dough was perfectly flaky and buttery.  There was nothing not to love about them.  After that initial purchase, I struggled each week to keep myself from buying a package of rugelachs to go with my bagels.

Ever since moving from Montreal, I have not, until very recently, had access to good rugelachs (or bagels, for that matter).  I have contemplated making them myself in the past, but I have never mustered the motivation to actually do so.  Thus, I was happy to see that they were to be a TWD assignment.

The rugelachs in Baking with Julia are flaky, sweet, and delicious, but they are very different from the ones I used to eat.  First of all, the recipe doesn't call for chocolate.  Instead, these are filled with  lekvar, nuts, and cinnamon sugar.  Second, they are rolled and then sliced rather than cut into triangles and rolled individually.  Third, they have a much stronger cinnamon flavor than the other ones.  The fact that they are quite so different speaks to the rugelach's versatility.  They are all made from a cream cheese dough, but the fillings you choose lead to great variation.

I will say that this recipe was a long and drawn out process, but it was not at all complicated and the cookies were delicious.  My rugelachs were crispy, flaky, and sweet.  Over all, I was very happy with they way they turned out.  However, I will be making some changes in the future.  I would love to try these with chocolate, but if I did go with the lekvar again, I would halve the recipe if making one full batch of dough.  I made the entire lekvar recipe and then cut the cookie recipe in half, so I now have a ton of prune lekvar in my fridge.  The lekvar is great on toast, but I will never finish it if I don't use it for something else. I think I would also roll the dough out a bit thinner and roll each cookie individually because I think that the large roll leads to a different distribution of pastry to filling with fewer pastry layers and a thicker filling layer.  I would like to see more layers of filling and pastry to see how that affects the flavor and texture.

The question of what I will do with the prune lekvar remains unanswered.  I was thinking that it would be good in an oatmeal cookie "sandwich.", but I also think it would be a good middle to chocolate pizzelle sandwiches or even lemon pizzelle sandwiches.  This is just one of life's difficult decisions.

To see the recipe, please visit My baking Heart or The Urban Hiker.

26 comments:

  1. I love the bagels in Montreal! I can't find any that are nearly as good here. Glad you enjoyed these. I think I'm going to try adding chocolate next time too.

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    1. I've only been to Montreal once but I sought out bagels because I heard they were delicious and they were!

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  2. I considered making the lekvar, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so props to you! I used Nutella for one of my rugelach fillings and it was pretty good, but I think just plain, melted dark chocolate would probably be the way to go if you really want chocolate. Good luck using up the rest of your lekvar!

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  3. I'll try a chocolate version next time too. And I'm also looking for a way to use extra lekvar and cinnamon-sugar-nut mixture. Slicing them thinner was a good idea...they're a big cookie at 1 inch thick.

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  4. I like your rugelach slices. Very cute.

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  5. Your rugelach look fantastic! If I were to try these again I'd go with chocolate, too.

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  6. These look great, but I agree, I like mine better with chocolate, too. I prefer Dorie's other recipe which I make for Christmas every year.

    We can't get good bagels here, either!

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  7. I think these were amazing with prunes but I can see why they would taste really good as well with some good chocoalte!!!

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  8. Love your rugelach "slices"! Great post!

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  9. Your rugelah are very pretty and your filling looks delish. I, too, will use chocolate next time. For me that would be perfect.

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  10. Your rugelach slices :) look great!

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  11. I really like that you got so much more filling in yours. They are perfect slices. I couldn't get enough of the filling and to me the filling and lekvar were the stars here. The chocolate version sounds like it would be so delicious.

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  12. They look perfect! I am with you, I would definitely try something with chocolate next time. We did enjoy them more than I expected to though, they were delicious.

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  13. I think I'm going to use my leftover lekvar for a cinnamon bun-type dealio... I've got a ton in the fridge, too!

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  14. Yours look wonderful...I love the thinner version :)

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  15. I've tried chocolate before but preferred the fruity/nutty combo of this recipe (blasphemy, I know!). You can make hamantaschan with the rest, a love little cookie designed just for holding lekvar!

    By the way, I love your swirl cookie version with the thinner slices; I actually think I would have preferred this, although I'm not sure my filling would have stayed put as well as yours!

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  16. Ooo chocolate in rugelach sounds delicious...good idea! And I think your leftover prune lekvar would be great as filling for oatmeal bar cookies, etc :-)

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  17. I just know that this dough filled with chocolate would be amazing. Maybe someday...
    They look great, though!

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  18. I love when things come together so perfectly! Your rugelach are beautiful - thanks for baking along with me this week! :)

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  19. Chocolate rugelach is definitely on my list now. After the rugelach recipe there is the Hungarian shortbread recipe in the book. They are amazing with plum/prune lekvar.

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  20. Hi, Your Rugelach look great!
    I'm so pleased to have joined this amazing baking group! You are all so kind!
    Mines were also finely sliced and loved them.
    Looking forward to the Irish Soda Bread
    Bye!

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  21. Good luck with that tough job of finding use for the lekvar :-)

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  22. I think it's neat that this recipe gave you a little trip down memory lane. The only other time I've made rugelach, I used raspberry jam and mini choco chips with the cinnamon sugar... mmm, they were good! Anyway, yours look great!

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  23. Cool - the filling in your cookies is shaped like little hearts!

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  24. I think I could quite happily eat all of these - they look fabulous.

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  25. Your rugelach look amazon! I made the apricot lekvar and had so much leftover I gave some away and ate the rest in Greek yogurt, on toast, and in oatmeal.

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