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Rugelach – Delectable Crescents

March 6, 2012 by Laura 4 Comments

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I was delighted to find that rugelach is the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for today.  The small treasures have always been among my favorite sweets.  They are rather tedious to make, so I think I’ve only made them once before.  But I thought it would be fun to try them again.  

rugelach on a plate with cup of tea

This baking adventure confirmed that my urge to modify a recipe is strong and I rarely resist.  I would describe my final set of ingredients and preparation steps as a “mash up” of the Lauren Groveman recipe in Baking with Julia and Dorie Greenspan’s recipe as described in her National Public Radio interview. 

I made a half recipe of Groveman’s dough recipe using the food processor method Greenspan recommends, rather than the stand mixer instructions in Groveman’s recipe.  

rugelach dough in food processor

rugelach dough being mixed in food processor

rugelach dough done in food processor

When I was growing up, my favorite rugelach were from a bakery that made crescents, so I used that shape.  

dough balls for making rugelach

dough ball for rugelach rolled out

I filled them with a combination of Groveman’s  apricot lekvar (a sweet paste based on chopped dried and reconstituted apricots), dried fruit soaked in the water used to reconstitute the apricots, chopped chocolate and a cinnamon and sugar mix.  I prepared and intended to add the chopped roasted nuts specified in Groveman’s recipe, but then forgot them as I filled and rolled up the rugelach.

dried apricots in pot ready to be cooked for rugelach

dried apricots cooking for lekvar

dried fruit cooking for rugelach filling

chopped chocolate

spreading apricot lekvar on rugelach dough

all the filling on rugelach dough

After painting the rugelach with an egg “wash” (egg diluted with a bit of milk), I rolled them in plain sugar as Greenspan suggested, rather than Groveman’s cinnamon/sugar mix.                                      

rugelach rolled up and ready to bake

Rugelach Report From the Frontlines – Lessons Learned:

  • Amount of lekvar – I found (as did others in the group) that lekvar recipe makes way more than is needed.  I could have halved the ½ portion I made and still had plenty. 
  • Amount of other filling ingredients – Groveman’s filling recipe fills the rugelach too full for my taste. It would have been difficult to roll the small pastries if I had used the nuts and I think they would have looked like rugelach on steroids.  Without the nuts, they are rotund enough and rolled nicely. 
  • Cutting the dough – I used a pizza cutter; it is definitely the best way to go for this dough. 
  • Size of individual rugelach – I cut the ½ recipe of Groveman’s dough into 3 discs and made each one into 16 pastries, as Greenspan recommended.  I like the size of the resulting rugelach – a bit bigger than bite sized, but certainly not mammoth.
  • Resting time for completed rugelach before baking – I refrigerated them for only 30 minutes (Greenspan’s suggestion) instead of Groveman’s 4+ hours because I was pressed for time and didn’t find the shorter time problematic. 
  • Preparing the baking pans – Groveman suggested waxed paper, while Greenspan recommended a Silpat mat or parchment.  I tried both methods, lining one pan with waxed paper and a second with a Silpat.  The waxed paper was a big mistake.  Rugelach stuck to the waxed paper wherever the apricot lekvar oozed out and several of the rugelach broke when I tried to remove them from the waxed paper, while those on the Silpat came right off. 

The final result – excellent texture and taste. A winner!

rugelach baked and ready to eat

PS – I baked only 2 of the 3 dough discs worth of the rugelach.  The rest I froze until they were solid on a cookie sheet and then moved them to a plastic freezer bag.  That way, I’ll have a few in reserve for a special occasion. 

Update on 2012-03-07 16:06 by motherwouldknow

Although I hope you’ll buy the book Baking with Julia, if you’re interested in seeing the basic recipe for the rugelach right now, you can find it here, in the post of the Tuesdays with Dorie co-host for this project, Jessica, of My Baking Heart. 

Filed Under: Archives, Desserts & Other Sweets Tagged With: chocolate, dessert, Dorie Greenspan, rugelach

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Comments

  1. Beverly says

    March 7, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    A beautiful description of your methods & final results- your rugelach are scrumptious looking & I am sure they tasted accordingly. I noticed many of the same things that you mentioned about the recipe amounts, etc.

    Reply
  2. motherwouldknow says

    March 7, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    Thanks. They are scrumptious – I'm having a hard time resisting them as they sit in the cookie jar. (Yeah, I know I could freeze them, but …) Do you write notes in your cookbooks? I haven't up til now, but I'm thinking of doing it with this recipe, so I don't forget to make much less of the lekvar.

    Reply
  3. steph (whisk/spoon) says

    March 8, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    i do love the traditional crescent shape! i totally uct back on the filling because it just knew they'd be a mess if so stuffed. i was tempted to try the food processor as well, since this dough isn't too different from a cream cheese pie dough. in the end, i didn't, but i'm glad to see it works fine.

    Reply
  4. Cher says

    March 11, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    Your crescents look lovely! The lekvars definitely made more than called for, but it is nice to have the left overs on hand for other uses.

    Reply

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