Rugelach

I am not Jewish. I never met anyone Jewish till I was 20, and I never tasted rugelach until I was 29. Still, I feel that home cooking is as good as a newspaper for glimpsing into a culture, and rugelach beckoned to me. They are slightly tart, tender pastry twists encircling fillings as varied as raisin, apricot, walnut and chocolate. It's strange making food that you know other people are intimately familiar with. They know how much filling to put inside, how to shape them, and how long to bake them. I was in the dark, except for the lost memory of the rugelach I tasted, and some pictures I pulled up on my computer. Rugelach, however, seemed to be a very forgiving type of holiday food. No matter my lack of knowledge, they rolled out agreeably, encased the filling with aplomb, and baked up flaky, golden, and in abundance. This recipe is one for date-walnut rugelach pulled from the Epicurious website. I made two batches of dough. For the first batch, I omitted the walnuts because my husband is allergic to them and substituted additional dates instead. I also reduced the sugar because dates are quite sweet enough and added extra vanilla because I like the fragrance. For the second batch, I became more fanciful: I used a filling of raspberry jam, grated orange peel and almond extract, then dipped the tops in orange sugar. For my part, I liked the date ones the best: they were mildly tart and tender, but with a mysterious, evocative and ancient flavor.

Dough:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Confectioners' sugar for rolling dough
For the dough, I softened the butter in the microwave - ten seconds per stick (make sure they're wrapped in paper). Don't put the butter right in the center; the microwave will melt a hole right down the middle. The Epicurious recipe instructed me to sift the flour before measuring, but who has time for that kind of thing? I added my flour unsifted. As well, the Epicurious recipe said to mix up the dough in a food processor, but I don't have one. I used my mixer instead to cream the butter and cream cheese together, then added the flour and salt. After you're done mixing up your dough, shape it into a log, wrap it in plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Filling 1 (for 1 batch of dough):
12 ounces pitted dates (about 1 3/4 cups) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla

Finely chop dates, stir in sugar, cinnamon and vanilla till well combined.

Cinnamon sugar topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix together sugar and cinnamon.

Filling 2 (for 1 batch of dough):
1 cup raspberry jam (mine had seeds)
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon almond extract
Grated peel from half an orange

Mix together all ingredients.

Orange sugar topping:
1/2 cup sugar
Grated peel from half an orange

Mix together sugar and orange peel.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut into 8 equal pieces. Dust your work surface and rolling pin with confectioners' sugar and roll out one piece into an 8-inch round. It takes a while for the dough to warm up sufficiently enough to roll out easily, so be patient. Cut the circle into 8 wedges. Now grab 1/4 cup of date filling or 2 tablespoons raspberry jam and distribute evenly around the circle, 1 inch from the outer edge.

Above: Unrolled date rugelach

Above: Unrolled raspberry rugelach

Roll up each wedge from the outer edge to the point to make a tiny croissant. I was supposed to turn under the outside edges to enclose the filling, but I forgot and some of the jam spilled out while baking. Oh well. Dip the tops of the rolls in the sugar topping and line up in satisfying rows on your cookie sheet. Now bake your rugelach by first putting your cookie sheet in the lower third of the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Then transfer the cookie sheet to the top third of the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely. These also freeze very well, so stash some away for when unexpected guests stop by around teatime.

Above: Baked Date Rugelach

Above: Baked Raspberry Orange Rugelach