Monday, December 8
Anyway, the recipe this week was Rugelach, and if you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you will know that rugelach is an important cookie in my house. We have had them at Christmas for as long as I can remember, and for as long as my sister can remember, and let me tell you, that girl remembers EVERYTHING. It is amazing, really. Isn't it crazy how some people remember the details of so many things? My memory seems to have a quota, so as new memories get in, others get dumped. Maybe I need ginko biloba or something...
ANYWAY, this is all to clarify why a new rugelach recipe is up to a big test in my house. We did another rugelach recipe for the Baking with Julia book, so this is rugelach recipe number 3. I discuss more about the history of Rugelach and the other recipes in the other posts, if you are interested. According to Dorie, this is the Rugelach that Won Over France. But will it win over my rugelach-loving house???
"My" rugelach recipe rolls the cookies into crescents, as opposed logs that are sliced like in this recipe and the BWJ recipe. The benefit to the crescent? You get more cookie!! Each cookie is more substantial. I give that two thumbs up.
This particular recipe uses a dough that is rolled very thin, and then a filling of coconut, dried cherries, toasted pecans and semi-sweet (bittersweet) chocolate is spread across and it is all rolled into a log. This filling is DELISH. I will definitely be incorporating it into my family's rugelach when I make it for Christmas this year. Can you go wrong with that combination? I say not. I did switch the semi-sweet chocolate to bittersweet, just because that is how we do things in my house, but I am sure it is delicious the other way too, for those who prefer semi-sweet.
To go back to the substantial-ness of the cookie.... Yes, that is probably not really a word but I think you know what I mean. The BCM rugelach cookies are TINY. So yes, it makes like 4 dozen, but they are 4 dozen TINY little cookies. My rugelach recipe makes about 5 dozen, and they are actual cookies. So with this recipe, you might want to eat a handful (or two honestly) because you can convince your brain that one or two cookies is just ridiculous and you certainly deserve more than that. OR, if you have much more self discipline than I, you could only eat your two cookies and be so proud of yourself for really "cutting back" during the holidays.
This cookies is like a middle ground between the BWJ rugelach and my rugelach. And it is a very happy, yummy middle. I still love my rugelach the best (totally biased, I know) so I will stick to that recipe HOWEVER with the addition of this new filling. This is too good not to share with the rest of my family!!
For other baker's thoughts on this recipe, visit the TWD blog and click on "LYL: Rugelach". The recipe can be found on pages 301-302 of Baking Chez Moi.
(P.S. I did actually make the previous BCM recipe, Cranberry Crackle Tart, for Thanksgiving this year. It was dive-bombed before I got photos taken, and I wasn't in love with the recipe, so I didn't bother to post anything.)