Happy rolls of dough and sweet filling – exploring the rich tradition of rugelach! Week 40: Chocolate/Cinnamon and Honey/Apple Rugelach

 

 

Rugelach look like mini croissants, but they don’t have the yeast and millions of laminated butter layers. They are made of a super simple, rich cream cheese and butter dough – it almost reminded me of a more supple, less crumbly shortbread.

The name roughly translates to “little twists” in Yiddish (how cool! I love Yiddish words. Who doesn’t? Chutzpah, oy vey, schmuck.. so many winners.) They are traditionally served with other sweet treats around Rosh Hashanah for a happy new year, though they are popular enough to be made all year round.

Personally, they remind me of my mother’s Sour Cream Twist recipe, though much less work is involved. The Sour Cream Twist is a magical creature that takes hours upon hours and is laminated with sugar and more butter than one could imagine. Still – the creamy buttery-ness and the classic crescent shape are super similar.

I saw a whole bunch of savory filling options for them and I can’t wait to try them! Especially a parmesan garlic pumpkin version – doesn’t that sound yum?

 

 

The cream cheese helps it stick together and avoid the crumbliness of an all-butter dough. Woo, dairy!

 

 

Breaking out one of my favorite kitchen toys for this recipe. All hail the crank flour sifter.

 

 

It looks like a pile of sand that will never come together, BUT it will! I promise.

 

 

I couldn’t decide between fillings, so I chose two different ones. My first was cinnamon, bittersweet chocolate shavings and butter. My second was minced apple, cinnamon, chopped pecans, honey, flour and red wine. I balked at the red wine at first, but it added a really nice twang to the flavor.

 

 

And we rollin’. One quarter at a time.

 

 

I pressed the filling down into the dough so it would have maximum adherence. The butter helps a lot on it’s own! Also, doing 12 triangles instead of 8 equals smaller, cuter crescents. Just saying.

 

 

I didn’t feel like grating my apple since that sounded messy and time consuming. Instead, I chopped it until almost minced but kept distinct chunks of apple. I didn’t want apple mush.

 

 

Next time, I’m going to chop the pecans smaller – they kept trying to pop out of the crescent to freedom.

 

 

Translation: the apple filling was bursting with fall flavor! They were cozy and buttery and good warm or at room temperature.

 

 

Happy munching!

 

Recipe compiled from: https://www.justataste.com/chocolate-rugelach/ & https://bakingamoment.com/apple-honey-rugelach/