It’s Tuesday, and that means it’s time for my next installment of Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe of the week was The Rugelach That Won Over France. I made them as part of the spread for my daughter’s birthday party this past weekend.
Rugelach consists of a tender dough made from cream cheese that bakes up similar to a puff pastry. The dough is rolled with any number of fillings. This recipe has us roll the dough with a filling of coconut, toasted nuts (I used almonds), chocolate, and dried cherries. Dorie has us roll the dough like mini cinnamon rolls and then slice and bake it.
Like others mentioned in the P’s & Q’s, I had a little trouble with this recipe. The rugelach were hard to slice without the dough cracking and the filling spilling out. Also, the 400° oven temperature seemed too high and some of mine were over-cooked. For a second batch I lowered the oven temp to 350°, and they turned out much better.
I had heard that Dorie has a very similar recipe in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours. I checked it out and found that her method of filling and rolling the dough was different: more like a crescent roll. Also, the baking temp was 350°, so I wonder if it’s a typo in the new book? The rugelach and the filling were good enough that I would try these again using the techniques from Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Despite their messy appearance, the rugelach were a hit! The party guests cleaned the platter and exclaimed how good they were. Can’t ask for more than that!
If you would like to see if this is “the Rugelach that wins over you”, you can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s newest book, Baking Chez Moi.
From Scratch 