Rugelah Russian Tea Pastries Recipes

Steps:

• Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins, and walnuts.
• On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges?cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Steps:

• Cut cold butter or margarine and cream cheese into bits. In food processor pulse flour, salt, butter or margarine, cream cheese and sour cream until crumbly.
• Shape crumbly mixture into four equal disks. Wrap each disk and chill 2 hours or up to 2 days.
• Combine sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, and finely chopped raisins (may substitute miniature chocolate chips for raisins).
• Roll each disk into a 9 inch round keeping other disks chilled until ready to roll them. Sprinkle round with sugar/nut mixture. Press lightly into dough. With chefs knife or pizza cutter, cut each round into 12 wedges. Roll wedges from wide to narrow, you will end up with point on outside of cookie. Place on ungreased baking sheets and chill rugelach 20 minutes before baking.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• After rugelach are chilled, bake them in the center rack of your oven 22 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on wire racks. Store in airtight containers...they freeze very well.
• Variations: Before putting the filling on the dough, use a pastry brush to layer apricot jam as well as brown sugar. Then add the recommended filling. You may also make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and roll the rugelach in this prior to putting them on the cookie sheets.

Steps:

• Sift the flour and salt into a small bowl and set aside.
• Using electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and cream cheese together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Stop the mixer once or twice to scrape the bowl with a spatula.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended, about 20 seconds, stopping the mixer once to scrape the bowl.
• Shape the dough into 2 equal thick rectangles, wrap each one in plastic wrap, and freeze for 2 hours.
• Remove 1 dough rectangle from the freezer and roll it out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap into a rectangle about 9"x8". It may be necessary to refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes duriing the rolling process, because it will become a bit sticky. Once rolled, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.While it is resting, remove the second rectangle from the freezer and roll it out the same way you did the first one.
• To fill the dough, unwrap one rectangle and place it on plastic wrap on a work surface. Spread half the preserves evenly over the rectangle, leaving uncovered a 1/2" strip along the length of one side.
• Mix the cinnamon and sugar together. Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar, nuts, and raisins over the preserves.
• Loosen the edge of the dough that is covered with jam with a knife or spatula and roll it toward the uncovered edge like a jelly roll, peeling off the plastic wrap as you roll. The seam should be on the underside. Wrap the roll in plastic and refrigerate it. Repeat the process with the other dough rectangle. Keep the filled rolls refrigerated for 2 hours.
• Fifteen minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375*F. Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper or lightly grease them with butter or veg. oil.
• For the glaze, lightly beat the egg with a fork. Use a pastry brush to apply the glaze to the outside of the roll. Using a thin, sharp knife, carefully cut the rolls into pieces about 1 1/4" long.
• Place the rugalah about 1" apart on the cookie sheets.
• Bake the rugalah until golden, about 25 minutes.(Some of the jam will ooze out and start to darken.) Use a spatula to remove the rugalah from the pan immediately and place them on a rack to cool. When they are cool, place them in an airtight container for a day before serving so that the taste and consistency have a chance to settle.
• Makes 30 pieces.

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, cream 7 oz. of butter and 8 oz. cream cheese together. add 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoons vanilla, and mix until smooth. Add 2 cups of flour and mix lightly. Refrigerate dough for an hour or more. Then divide the chilled dough into 4 balls.
• On a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, foll one ball of dough into a circle until about 1/8 inches thick.
• Whatever filling you use, spread it from center of the circle. My favorite is Apricot Walnut (1 cup of apricot jam and 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts). A household favorite is Chocolate which is made by sprinkling grated chocolate and sugar. Another idea is Raspberry Raisin (1 cup of raspberry jam and 1/2 cup raisins).
• Cut the pastry into pie shaped wedges. a pizza cutter makes it easier to cut the dough, but a knife can be used too. For bite-sized and nice looking cookies the thick end of the wedge should be about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. If you use too much filling, it will fall out and result in messy looking cookies.
• Start at the wide edge of the wedge and roll the dough up to the point.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place each pastry, seam side down, on the paper. If you don't want to use parchment, you can spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. If you want to freeze the cookies and bake them later, put the cookies on the parchment paper into the freezer.
• Brush each pastry with the egg and sugar.
• Bake at 350F for 20-25 mins or until golden.

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Using electric mixer, beat butter and cheese in large bowl until light. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Mix in flour and salt. Gather dough into ball and gently knead until smooth. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Gather each into ball; flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let soften slightly before rolling.)
• For filling:
• Mix 3/4 cup sugar, cranberries, walnuts, butter, cinnamon and allspice in small bowl to blend. Set aside.
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Place 1 dough disk on floured work surface (keep remaining 7 dough disks refrigerated). Roll out dough to 8-inch round. Spread 3 tablespoons filling over round, leaving 1/2-inch border. Cut round into 8 wedges. Starting at wide end of each wedge, roll up tightly and completely to tip. Place cookies, tip pointing down, on ungreased baking sheet and form into crescents. Repeat with 3 more dough disks and filling. Brush cookies with egg. Sprinkle additional sugar over. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool. Repeat with remaining 4 disks, filling, egg and sugar. (Can be made ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week, or freeze up to 1 month.)