Kitchen Wizardry - Rugelach

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After rolling the rugelach.

My family and I love rugelach. For those of you who are not familiar with this delicacy, Wikipedia defines it as "a Jewish pastry of Ashkenazic origin". It is essentially a crecent shaped pastry made of cheese dough and filled with fruit preserves. I've been buying them at Costco for years but in recent months the price of the rugelach has gone up and the quantity has gone down so I decided to see if I could make some of my own.

After adding the cinnamon sugar topping.

I found a recipe online here that appeared to be simple enough and I decided to give it a go. It was quite the  experience and I learned a few things. First thing I learned was not to make rugelach in the summer. Because of the high cream cheese and butter content, this recipe created a very soft dough made even softer by the heat in the kitchen. Trying to work with this dough was like trying to tie egg whites into a knot. The second thing I learned was that the quantity given for the fruit preserves wasn't quite enough. I nearly doubled it in order to have enough for all the dough. The third and most important thing I learned was that with this recipe you have to work FAST because the dough gets softer and softer as you manipulate it. Turns out that if you keep the dough AND the cookie sheets chilled as much as possible, the process becomes a bit easier. Oh, and one more thing. The recipe calls for rolling the dough into a circle, adding the filling then cutting it into wedges like a pizza pie. Don't even think of using a knife to cut that dough. You'll make a big mess. Use a pizza wheel instead. Soooo much simpler. 

Ta-daa! Delicious.

The finished rugelach didn't look anything like the store bought variety and I was sure that my first attempt would be a disappointment but to my amazement that was not the case. They turned out delicious (albeit not very attractive). They tasted every bit as good as the ones I was used to buying. My husband quickly became enamored of the fresh baked delights and insisted on tasting them continually to make sure he wasn't mistaken. Even I thought they turned out wonderfully and I'm my worst critic. 

I guess I will now be expected to bake rugelach from now on instead of buying them. Next time I think I'll use an apple filling made from the apples on my tree. Hmmmm. Wanna guess what I'll be doing this fall?


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Epic Kitchen Fail!

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Ugh! I won't even go into details. I'll just say that everything I did in the kitchen today did not go well. I heated up leftovers -- they were dry. I tried baking a bread in the oven instead of my bread machine -- it was a crusty bowling ball. I tried baking a pound cake -- it rose so high it spilled over the edges of the pans. The batter that hit the floor of the oven starting burning and smoking so I opened the oven to slip a cookie sheet on the lower rack to catch the spillover but that was enough to sink the cakes. They were a hot mess. Truly, my oven and I were not on friendly terms. Just take a look at these pictures. They're awful. I had been planning to send a cake to my mother-in-law's house but I can't do that now. To add insult to injury I now have the unenviable task of cleaning the burnt bits inside the oven.

There was one saving grace behind all this. In spite of the ugliness of the cakes, the remnants were still tasty and my husband was gobbling it down by the handful. In my efforts I used up nearly all my baking ingredients so now I'll have to do a supermarket run to stock up again. Hopefully my next attempt won't be quite as pitiful. C'est la vie.

Update:
Since my unfortunate day in the kitchen three days ago I am proud to say that I have successfully baked a loaf of white bread and a marbled banana bread. The ugly pound cake has been devoured. Here's hoping the demons in my kitchen have been appeased and will haunt me no more.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

More Lovin' from the Oven

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Since experiencing a resounding success with the oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies I made earlier this week, I've been having a ball baking this past week. My biggest problem is remembering to photograph my goodies before they are all consumed. This past Sunday I decided to whip up a batch of corn muffins just because I have a heart shaped pan that I wanted to use. Unfortunately I didn't have any cornmeal in the house so I used an old Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix box I had languishing in the back of a cabinet. Bad move. The muffins, as adorably shaped as they were, didn't have the right texture one would expect of a self-respecting corn muffin. Next time I'll quick being lazy and do the right thing by buying some fresh cornmeal and making the muffins from scratch.

My baking was not a total loss, however, because I also made a whole wheat bread which, as it turns out, tastes pretty good wrapped around some cold cuts. I also whipped up a batch of killer cheddar garlic buns that my family fought over. They taste like the ones you get at Red Lobster. No pictures though. I was too busy eating to get my camera.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva