Serving Size : 36 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Jewish Cookies
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
Cream Cheese Dough:
6 oz Cream cheese
1/2 lb Unsalted butter -- cold
2 c Flour
1/4 ts Salt
1/3 c Sour cream
1 ts Water (optional)
Filling:
1/2 c Sugar
1 tb Cinnamon
1 c Walnuts -- finely chopped
1/2 c Dark raisins -- chopped
Cut cream cheese into 1 tb pieces and let soften at room temperature.
Cut butter into small pieces of about 1/2 tb and keep them cold until
ready to use.
Place flour, salt, and butter in bowl of food processor and process
with on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream
cheese and sour cream, distributing them evenly over mixture. Process
with on/off turns until dough just holds together. Add 1 ts water if
necessary. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, press together into a ball and
flatten to a disk. Refrigerate four hours or up to two days. With the
easy to handle cream cheese dough, crescent shaped rugelach are a
delight to prepare at home. These are tender, flaky and not too
sweet. You can make them ahead and freeze them before or after baking.
Handling of dough, taken from Barb Day's recipe:
Roll out a portion of the dough in a circle about 1/16" thick. With a
knife or pastry wheel, cut the pastry into 16 pie-shaped wedges. If
the dough is sticky, dust it with a little flour. Sprinkle or spread
the filling on the wedge. Beginning at the wide edge, roll the dough
up toward the point. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and carefully
sprinkle with a tiny bit of the reserved sugar. Repeat with the
remaining dough and filling. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden.
Notes: The dough for this cookie will literally melt in your hands if
not worked very quickly, and kept as cold as possible! I freeze a
marble pastry board before I begin to make these and use a marble pin
for rolling the dough. If you do not have this equipment, ice down
the area you aare going to work on. When rolling the dough, it is
wise to place a sheet of waxed paper over the board. If the dough
gets too sticky to work, put it back in the fridge for a while, then
continue. This recipe is basically the recipe in The Jewish Holiday
Kitchen, by Joan Nathan. I have used various flavors of jam or
preserves.
