TWD 3 - Rugelach

When I saw in the book that the dough contains cream cheese, well I thought "Oh my God!". I mean I could not imagine how the cream cheese will effect the texture of the dough, as I only used it so far in creams.

Rugelach is by the way a Jewish pastry in a form of a roll or crescent filled with nuts and dried fruits. My versions were a bit different. I made two kinds of rugelach.

1) Plum lekvar (jam) with crushed walnut

2) Strawberry-rhubarb jam with dried cranberries and ground almond

I have never tasted Rugelach before. It was like a blind date. You do not know what to expect, so you expect the worse. Mainly, saying I am not going to like it.

The texture of the dough ain't made it easy. The first part was sort of okay, as I somehow managed to form a ball-like something out of the dough. But the second part. Wow, I mean that was hard. I tried different techniques :)))

1) I tried to roll the dough out on a floured, but wooden surface with a wooden rolling pin. NO GO.

2) I tried my silicone mat still floured. Again NO GO. It stuck everywhere.

3) Final desperate solution that - in fact - worked at the end was to flour two thin plastic wraps (clingfilm maybe - I am not sure of the word - example here) and roll the dough between them. In this way neither the silicone mat nor my wooden rolling pit could reach the sticky dough.

Filling and rolling them back was super easy. I made the first part Saturday morning. I rolled it out and filled it only late Saturday evening. I baked them Sunday for lunch. I halved the dough (as usual now for my 2-people household) and we ate almost all rugelach after Sunday lunch.

We loved both, but if you can keep a secret I'll tell you that my favorite was the plum lekvar-walnut rugelach.

If you want to try baking them, you will find the recipe at Margaret - The Urban Hiker or at Jessica - My Baking Heart.