Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach

Rugelach are a Jewish dessert best described as tiny crescent rolls with various sweet fillings. Common fillings include chocolate, cinnamon-sugar, apricot, raspberry, and walnut.

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of coarse salt (table salt works too)
2 1/3 cups flour

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling:
4 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sanding sugar (that's the coarse, crystalline sugar you often see sprinkled on top of cookies - it withstands heat)

Directions 

1) To make the dough: Using an electric mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese at medium speed. Add sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each one. Add vanilla and salt, and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low, and beat in flour. Remove from bowl, and divide into 3 pieces on a lightly floured surface. Pat into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight. The cooler the dough, the better.

2) To make the filling, mix together butter, sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

3) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking. On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough into a 12-inch circle, less than 1/8 inch thick. Brush evenly with cinnamon-sugar filling.

4) Cut the dough circle into 16 equal-sized wedges, like you're cutting a pie. Starting at the base of each wedge, roll towards the centre to enclose the filling, forming crescent shapes. Pinch the corners to seal. Place on prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

5) Glaze: Brush tops of rugelach with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

**This recipe was adapted from MarthaStewart.com - I chose to create a cinnamon-sugar filling rather than the walnut one featured in the Martha Stewart recipe.

I have made this recipe twice, and both times I used a variety of fillings for variety. In addition to the cinnamon-sugar filling (my favourite), I also tried chocolate, apricot and raspberry. For the chocolate filling, I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips (or baker's chocolate squares) with a dab of butter to facilitate spreading. Raspberry and apricot fillings can be made using melted jam (just heat in the microwave for a few seconds and then spread). The first time I made these, I was fortunate to discover that the family I was staying with had a jar of fresh apricot preserves in their fridge, and these tasted much better than the jam I used the second time around. Like (almost) always, homemade beats store-bought!


B'tayavon (bon appetit!)