Rugelach

This recipe has a technical omission that should be accounted for in step 7 - the warmed jam must be cooled to room temperature before it can be spread on the rolled out dough, else the butter and cream cheese in the dough will soften to the point of making the rolling-up step impossible.

Too many ingredients in the filling. I agree w/ Jo.L, that Nathan's and Heatter's are simpler.

Traditional rugelach have EITHER a preserve filling; or a cinnamon/nut/raisin mixture; but never both; and certainly never both + chocolate.

Come to think of it, chocolate was never an ingredient in our Russian grandmother's babka, rugelach, or any dessert. I guess because there was no chocolate in her shtetl. :-)

I'd really appreciate it (as would a million others) if the Times would stop assuming we all have a food processor. How about providing directions for alternative methods? A regular mixer? Stand, or hand held? or, as my bubbe made her rugelach, by hand... Thanks, Times.

The dough here is a "classic" like one passed down in my family from a Brooklyn (née Austria) grandmother. Other fillings are possible and hers differed from this one. None had chocolate. Her most popular was a dab of orange marmalade - not necessary to soften it before spreading - plus chopped walnuts for crunch; or a mix of sugar, raisins, chopped walnuts, and cinnamon. No sugar on top. Experiment! And be prepared - rolling up the sections can be fiddly; don't over fill.

Half pound butter, half pound cream cheese, 1-1/2 c flour. Roll out rectangle. on floured board. Spread with grape jelly (use offset spreader), chopped walnuts, raisins and sugar-cinnamon mixture. Slice in half. Roll each half jelly roll style and slice using pizza cutter. My family has been doing it this way for 70+ years and it has never failed to be a hit

I found this just a little bit too fussy--but then, I'm an old person. I have another rugelach recipe, courtesy of Joan Nathan, and one from Maida Heatter, both of which are more simple and, I think, just as delicious! Perhaps I'm not accustomed to the chocolate, which I don't remember from either the rugelach my grandmother made (along with her killer blintzes) or the Jewish Bakeshop in Cincinnati, where my mother bought rugelach for the holidays.

My Grandma used sour cream and an egg yolk to make the dough. I think sour cream would have been more typical in Russia than cream cheese. Anyway the recipe makes really delicious ruggies.

Don't roll too tightly, it'll keep the dough from getting flakey in the middle.

Correct, dear Jo.L. You don't remember chocolate because it's a convention brought to Jewish cooking by baby boomers. The Eastern European kitchen didn't know chocolate. And that, more than any other reason, is why I don't make anything from our ancestors with chocolate. Chocolate babka? Nope. Chocolate ruggies? Nope. :-)

If someone doesn't have a food processor, then they could use the time-tested techniques that one would always use for incorporating butter/sour cream into flour-cutting in with a pastry blender or two knives.

Delicious. Made one batch with peach jam and one batch with raspberry. Crust was ultra flaky and filling yummy. One problem was getting the cream cheese and butter to meld in the food processor. Sounded as though it was going to burn out the motor. It may help to let the butter get softer rather than just leaving it out for 10 minutes.

Delicious, light and flaky. I may never buy rugelach again!

Can I make the dough without a food processor? Will a pastry blender work?

actually my great aunts recipe calls for apricot jam and cinnamon, walnut raisin..from Russia...so maybe there is no such thing as never both...:)

Sure it will. Blend until coarse crumb texture like a shortbread.