Not only is it Election Day in the United States but it’s Tuesdays-with-Dorie, too :) This week’s recipe was for rugelach… one of my favorite cookies. While I love to eat rugelach, I’d never even considered trying to make them because the finished product looked as if it had to be an uber-complex process. And my first attempt truly was humbling because it was an uber-mess which was uber-disappointing. But because I love these so much, I refused to be put down by these little cookies. I switched things up and finally, finally produced some very tasty (and kinda cute, if I must say so myself) rugelach :)
I usually pretty much love Dorie’s recipes. Her recipes for the Perfect Party Cake, Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters, Chocolate Pudding and Cream Puff Ring are among my faves But, although I hate to admit it, some of Dorie’s recipes simply just don’t work well for me. Take for example Dorie’s recipe for pie crust. Try as I might, I just can’t get it right. And the same thing with Dorie’s recipe for rugelach.
I wanted to love Dorie’s rugelach recipe but either the recipe is off or the directions leave a lot to be desired. I’m not quite sure which. I followed the recipe exactly as written and had nothing but trouble. The butter/cream cheese/flour didn’t produce a “dough” by pulsing 8 times in the food processor. In hindsight, I probably should have run the FP longer… but I was afraid since the directions said not to overmix. The dough didn’t come together, after being refrigerated for an hour it was rock-solid, trying to roll it out was a real chore and trying to roll up the little triangles just was darn near impossible for me. In the oven, those suckers just spread all over the place – the filling spread – the dough spread – it was an ugly ol mess and these are the best looking of the batch of 16 cookies.
I honestly don’t know what happened because the vast majority of the other TwD bakers had absolutely no problem with Dorie’s recipe… and I’m thrilled for them :) So don’t go by my experience alone… check out the results from the other TwD bakers right here.
But I refused to be outdone by this recipe since after starting to make it, heck, I wanted to eat some tasty rugelach! The next day I started all over again and this time I used Ina Garten’s recipe. The dough came together much better, it rolled out fine, everything… everything just worked out for me :)
Both times (Dorie’s recipe as well as Ina’s recipe) I made two batches, each with a different filling. One was apricot preserves, cinnamon sugar, almonds and grated chocolate…. the other was cranberry preserves, diced apples, cinnamon sugar, golden raisins and almonds. Both were very good but I definitely preferred the cranberry-apple variety. DH just loved them both equally :)
Having made both Dorie’s rugelach and Ina’s rugelach back to back, it’s easy to compare and contrast my experience. Ina’s recipe has sugar in the batter so it gets a bit of a sweetness boost right there. Also, Ina’s method is to use a stand mixer to cream the butter and cream cheese…. as opposed to Dorie’s recipe in which a food processor is used to pulse the ingredients together. Any way you slice it Ina’s recipe just worked out better for me.
If you’re interested in Dorie’s recipe, it can be found at the blog of this week’s TwD host Piggy of
Piggy’s Cooking Journal. If you’d like Ina’s recipe, it can be found
here. Making rugelach is a whole lot easier than you might think… it sure was for me.
Have a delicious day!!
