Here it is - the recipe for the prize-winning cookies from the Mount Albert Fair! These cookies are easy but they do require a little bit of time for chilling. I used to sell these cookies at the Farmer's market and they usually sold out. They looked so good in my glass cookie jar! In a nut shell, these are little triangles of cream cheese pastry, smeared with jam, covered with a mixture of sugar, walnuts and currants, and then rolled up, crescent style.
I decided to do a little hunting around to see if there were other recipes for this little gem of a cookie. There were only two differences with the dough that I found. Bonnie Stern has two recipes for rugelach in her book, "Essentials of Home Cooking". One is her recipe that uses the same cream cheese dough, minus the sugar. The other one is a little more interesting. It is from her Aunt and the dough is made with yeast. I haven't tried it, but I think I will. Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of "Rose's Christmas Cookies", has almost the exact same recipe as the Barefoot Contessa. Rose credited Lora Brody, for having the "very best" rugelach recipe that "couldn't be improved on". Naomi Duguid and Jeffery Alford offer two types of dough, as well - a cream cheese dough and a sour cream dough. The other recipes that I found were all for the cream cheese recipe, give or take slight variations.
As for the fillings, many recipes call for apricot jam. They are delicious, but I happen to love raspberries even more than apricots. I always toast the walnuts - a quick 10 minutes in the oven brings so much more flavour out of the walnuts. You can substitute the walnuts for pecans or even almonds. Some recipes call for raisins, but I prefer currants in these cookies because they are smaller, and they seem to fit into these two-bite cookies better.
Rugelach
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 lb. unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 c. white sugar + 1/2 c.
1/4 t. kosher salt
1 t. pure vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
3/4 c. currants
1 c. walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 c. raspberry jam
1 egg beaten with 2 T. milk, for egg wash
1. In mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light. Add 1/4 cup of white sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Divide the dough up into four equal pieces and form each one into a disc. Wrap each one in plastic, and refrigerate for one hour.
2. To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 t. cinnamon, the currants, and the walnuts.
3. On a well-floured board, roll each ball into a 9-inch circle. Spread the dough with 2 T. raspberry jam and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 T. white sugar with 1 t. cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.
*For the market, I would freeze the rugelach individually, then pop them into a large ziploc bag. They bake beautifully, just add a couple more minutes to the time.
