I have mentioned a couple ok maybe a few times about World Wide Wednesday.  What is WWW? Where did it come from? Why is she still talking about it?

My daughter started it with her expat friends when she was in Japan several years ago. When she came home she finished out the year with us. She would make a meal one day a week from a different country. When she started it here, Wednesday was the only day of the week that worked for all of us. It started with my daughter making the meal, then I wanted to contribute something and my son also wanted in. My son is in charge of the drink of the country; sometimes it is a cocktail and sometimes it is a specific tea. I made Thati-Paan (flat-bread) from Sri Lanka. Which apparently; my daughters Sri Lankan co-worker told her that most people in that country just go to the store and buy it no one really makes; fair enough, It was easy and delicious.

This past week we were “sort of” in Israel making Jew-ish food. My daughter made a soup called Kubbeh Shawandar Hamudh which is from an Iraqi and Kurdish Jewish Community; which is why I wrote Jew-ish. My son made a warm thick milk based alcoholic drink that he chopped up different toppings for; I am not sure of the name of it – I should pay more attention shouldn’t I anyway it was quite delicious with pistachios and nutmeg floating on top. Update: he was just here it is called Sachlav.

I want to share with you what I made which was Rugelach pronounced (roo·guh·laak) It is a semi-sweet Jewish pastry. Believe it or not this was on my radar many years ago to try and make and just never got around to it. I ripped out a recipe from a magazine has to be around 5-8 years ago. I have a lot of those pieces of paper. Anyway here was my opportunity and they were easier than I thought pretty tasty little cookie.

One more piece of the puzzle, how did it get it’s name World Wide Wednesday. Last time when we were doing this; one of the drinks my son made was a cocktail and after a couple of maybe more, I can’t really say for sure but we were throwing around name ideas and my husband came up with the name and it stuck. I told my daughter I am going to try to take pictures of what we are making/eating and share it on Instagram; as soon as I learn how to use it properly. 

Rugelach cookie

dclarkabal

A filled pastry cookie originating in Poland and popular in Israel

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Course Dessert, pastry, Snack

Cuisine Jewish

Equipment

• food processor or stand mixer

Ingredients

  

Dough

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

filing

• 1½ cups pecans or walnuts chopped
• 1¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate
• ½ cup berry preserves lingonberry, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry
• ¼ cup brown sugar

egg wash

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon water
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

 

• slice cold butter and cream cheese into smaller pieces. Put all into your food processor along with the sour cream, flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse together until a crumbly dough starts to form and begins to fall away from the sides of the processor. Don't over process; the dough should be crumbly but will hold together in your hand,
• Form the dough into a ball. Divide the ball into four equal pieces and form each of those pieces into balls. Cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour up to 48 hours.
• You can use a mixer instead of a food processor, just bring the butter and cream cheese to room temperature and cream them together before adding the dry ingredients.
• While the dough is resting - In a skillet, toast the chopped nuts over medium heat until fragrant. Pour the toasted nuts into the food processor along with the chocolate chips, berry preserves, and brown sugar. Pulse together until a thick, coarse paste forms. set aside.
• Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl; reserve. Beat your egg wash with water. set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly flour your rolling surface and rolling pin. Take one portion of the dough out the refrigerator (keep the rest of the dough cold until ready to use). Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. The dough while hard to press initially it will become more pliable as it starts to warm.
• Lift the dough gently from the rolling surface (it may stick a bit) and re-flour your surface beneath the dough. you can free hand cut a 9 inch circle or take a cake pan and make an indent. Then trace around it with a knife. Place the excess dough into the fridge under the plastic for your fifth batch.
• Take about 4 tbsp of the filling and place it in the center of the circle. Spread it very thin across the surface of the dough; leaving about an inch around the outer edge of the dough empty, Too much filling will make your cookie expand too much.
• Cut the circle into 8 equal triangles by first cutting the circle in half...then quarters...then halve the quarters to make eighths. If you prefer to make smaller bite-sized cookies, divide each quarter into three to make 12 equal triangles.
• Roll each triangle, starting from the wide flat end and rolling towards the narrow point to form a crescent roll shape. Place; end point down onto your prepared cookie sheet. Either use a Silpat or parchment paper. They do expand a bit so leave about an inch in between each cookie.
• When you are ready to bake, brush the top of each cookie with egg wash, then sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar.
• Place cookies in the oven and let them back for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Once removed from the oven let them cool on a wire rack. Serve warm from the oven or store for a few days in an airtight container,

Keyword rugelach

Adapted recipe from Tory Avey