Crescent-Shaped Rugelach with Raisin-Walnut Filling

(from 226-2tone’s recipe box)

MAKES 32 COOKIES

If the dough gathers into a cohesive mass around the blade in the food processor workbowl, you have overprocessed it. Make sure to stop processing at the point where the mixture is separate and pebbly. If at any point during the cutting and rolling of the crescents the sheet of dough softens and becomes impossible to roll, slide it onto a baking pan and freeze it until it is firm enough to handle. Once the crescents are baking in the oven, start checking them for doneness at eighteen or nineteen minutes, especially those on the top-level rack. Feel free to substitute an equal quantity of chopped pitted prunes, chopped dried apricots, dried currants, dried cherries, or dried cranberries for the raisins in the filling.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
On the way to a rugelach recipe that gave us tender cookies with a bounteous filling, we discovered that freezing the circles of rolled-out dough before applying the filling gave our baked cookies the flakiest, most delicate texture. For the best filling for our rugelach recipe, we processed the preserves briefly in the food processor to break up larger pieces of fruit, which tend to spill out during baking. We chopped the nuts very fine and added them to the filling last, so they would block seepage.

Source: Cook's Illustrated Published September 1, 1997 (http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/12/secrets-to-crescent-shaped-rugelach/) (from RecipeThing user Bethany)

Categories: Cookies

Ingredients

  • CREAM CHEESE AND SOUR CREAM DOUGH:
  • 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 pound unsalted butter (2 sticks), chilled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • FRUIT FILLING:
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup apricot preserves, processed briefly in food processor to break up large chunks
  • 1 cup raisins, preferably golden
  • 2 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped fine (about 2 cups)
  • EGG YOLK-AND-MILK GLAZE:
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

  1. For the dough: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine in food processor fitted with steel blade. Add butter and cream cheese pieces and sour cream; pulse until dough comes together in small, uneven pebbles the size of cottage cheese curds, about sixteen 1-second pulses. Turn mixture onto work surface, press into 9-inch-by-6-inch log, divide log into four equal portions (see illustration 1), and press each into 4 1/2-by-3/4-inch disk. Place each disk between two sheets plastic wrap; roll out to form 8 1/2-inch circle (illustration 2). Stack dough circles on plate; freeze 30 minutes (or up to 1 month if stored in zipper-lock freezer bag). Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside with other filling ingredients.

  2. Working with one dough round, remove from freezer and spread 2 1/2 tablespoons preserves, 1/4 cup raisins, 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar, and 1/2 cup walnuts, in that order, over dough; pat down gently with fingers (illustration 3). Cut dough round into eight wedges. Roll each wedge into crescent shape and place at 2-inch intervals on parchment paper-lined heavy rimmed baking pans, with the point underneath (illustration 4). Freeze crescents at least 15 minutes. (Frozen crescents, if well-wrapped, can be frozen in a zipper-lock bag up to 6 weeks.) Repeat with remaining dough rounds.

  3. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg yolks and milk in small bowl until smooth. Brush top and sides of frozen crescents with egg-milk mixture. Bake crescents, turning baking pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time, until pale gold and slightly puffy, 21 to 23 minutes. Immediately sprinkle each cookie with scant teaspoon cinnamon sugar; carefully transfer hot, fragile cookies to cooling rack using thin-bladed spatula. (Can be stored in an airtight container up to 4 days.)

  4. STEP-BY-STEP – FILLING AND FORMING RUGELACH: 1. Cut the dough into even quarters. Press each quarter into a round, flat disk about 4 1/2 inches in diameter for crescents; or an 8-inch by 4-inch rectangle for roulades. 2. Place each disk between two pieces of plastic wrap and roll it into an 8 1/2-inch disk, or an 11-inch by 7-inch rectangle. Leave in the plastic wrap and stack on top of each other on a large plate. 3. Remove the dough from the freezer, place it on a work surface, peel off the top layer of plastic wrap, and cover the dough with preserves, raisins, cinnamon sugar, and walnuts. 4. For crescents, cut the dough into eight pie-shaped wedges. Starting with the wide side opposite the point, roll up the wedges to form crescents. Freeze them for 15 minutes, then bake as directed. 5. For roulades, starting from the long side, roll the dough tightly into a cylinder, taking care not to squeeze any filling out the sides as you roll. 6. Cut off a 1/4-inch section from each end of the cylinder and discard it. Cut the roll into 1-inch pieces. Place them seam side down on parchment paper-lined baking pans or cookie sheets. Freeze them for 15 minutes, then bake as directed.

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