Everyone Loves Rugelach

We all love rugelach, but most of us are reluctant to make it. Some recipes are involved and so complicated that it’s just easier to buy them.

This rugelach recipe has no complicated ingredients. They’re easy to shape too. Even the almond filling is easy to make and uses common ingredients you can buy in any store.

And another great thing about these rugelach is they are considerably cheaper (and better) than anything you can buy.

They’re so easy, you’ll make them often.

Rich Almond Filling

I love all things almond, so naturally, I love rugelach with an almond filling.

You can buy it in a can, but it’s hard to get. The more readily available “almond filling” really isn’t useable for these rugelach because it’s way too liquidy. What you need is called “schmear.” That is what it’s called too but it’s not easy to get. Plus, it’s pretty expensive. Therefore, I make my own almond schmear copycat. That recipe will be enough for two batches of cookies. Don’t worry, that recipe is easy too!

If you’re not fond of almonds or are allergic, other fillings may be used too. A common filling is apricot. For that you can use the pastry filling you find in the baking aisle. But make sure it’s pastry filling and not pie filling. Pie filling won’t work because it’s not the proper consistency.

I wouldn’t advise using jams or jellies either. They’re likely to burn and would be way too sweet.

A simple cinnamon sugar is very nice for filling too. You do it  just like you do for cinnamon rolls–brush the dough with melted butter then roll it up and cut it.

Shaping

Most of the time you see rugelach in crescent shapes. I split the dough up into 3-4 equal portions so I can chill/save what I’m not using.

I eliminate that complicated rolling and shaping simply by rolling out the dough in a rough rectangle then spreading the filling over the top. Then I just roll it up, jelly roll style–and it doesn’t matter if you roll from the short or long end–and cut it in 1-2-inch (2.5-5 cm) slices. Be careful to set the rugelach on the baking sheet with the plain dough side down. Don’t place them with the rolled side down!!!

The Recipe

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Almond Rugelach

Rich and delicious cookie for the holidays or any time

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Chill time1 hour hr

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: almond cookie recipe, chanukah cookies, Christmas cookies, rugelach recipe

Servings: 20

Calories: 274kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz cream cheese cut into chunks
• 8 oz unsalted butter butter cut into chunks
• 1 recipe copycat almond schmear
• 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds optional
• sanding sugar optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment
• Place the flour, salt, cream cheese and butter in bowl of food processor with metal blade. Process until a smooth dough forms, about 10 to 20 seconds.
• Divide dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces and wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour before using.
• on a lightly floured surface, roll a portion of dough to about 1/8-inch (0.32 cm) in a rough rectangle. Spread with about 3 tbs of the almond schmear. Sprinkle with about 2 tbs toasted almonds, if desired.
• Roll up jelly roll style and cut into 1-2-inch (2.5-5 cm) slices. Place on prepared sheet plain dough side up—not the filling side. Sprinkle with additional toasted almonds and sanding sugar, if using.
• Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks. I got about 10 rugelach per dough portion.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 274kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 97mg | Potassium: 57mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 719IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

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What could be better than prime rib infused with an awesome garlicky flavor?

Prime Rib: King Of Roasts

This cut is called the “King of Roasts” for several reasons.

It’s juicy and tender plus it makes a great presentation. It’s also rather costly compared to other cuts and for that reason, serving it is pretty much confined to holidays.

Even though my mother kept to British tradition of serving turkey at Christmas, after I got married I started a new Christmas tradition by serving prime rib.

Interesting fact that turkey is not as common in Britain as it is in the USA. In fact, prime rib is the usual cut used for roast beef in the UK (or at least it used to be).

Keeping with British tradition here, those lovely things in the muffin tin in the photo are individual Yorkshire Puddings! And the potatoes are my Semolina Baked Fingerling Potatoes.

Cooking Method Makes The Difference

This post isn’t so much about a recipe as it is about a method.

In the past, I’ve cooked a standing prime rib roast two ways. The first way was set it in a 325 ℉ oven and roast away until it came to the proper temperature–135-140 ℉ for my medium rare to medium taste. The second way was starting the roast at 450 ℉ for 15 minute to sear then turning down the oven temperature to 325 ℉ for the rest of the time it took to come to the temperature I mentioned before.

However, I recently read  a completely different method on Serious Eats. It was called reverse sear–where you do the high temperature oven part at the end.

You move the high temperature sear at the end of the cooking time. The prime rib also roasts for a longer time at a lower oven temperature. That keeps the juices in the meat rather than in the pan.

An added benefit is that the meat rests before the final sear and the final sear is done right before you seat your guests, so you can start carving immediately.

The Recipe

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Garlicky Prime Rib

What could be better than prime rib infused with an awesome garlicky flavor?

Prep Time8 hours hrs

Cook Time5 hours hrs

Total Time13 hours hrs

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: beef recipe, prime rib, prime rib recipe

Servings: 8

Calories: 677kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 4-6 lbs prime rib roast
• 1 large clove garlic thinly sliced
• 1-2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Instructions

• Make slits randomly in roast with a sharp-pointed knife.
• Place a slice of garlic in each slit. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper then place the roast in the refrigerator uncovered overnight.
• Preheat oven to 250 ℉. Put the roast, fat cap side up, in a rack in a roasting pan.
• Roast for 4-5 hours or until an instant read thermometer reaches the stage you want the meat. Rare is 120 ℉; medium-rare is 130-135 ℉; medium is 140 ℉ and well is 160 ℉. Remember that you can cook individual slices additionally if you have some medium-well and well people, so most people will cook this roast to rare and cook individual slices to the other stages.
• Remove the roast from the oven and let it stand for 30 minutes.
• About 10 minutes before you plan to serve the roast, preheat the oven to 500 - 550 ℉ ( or the highest temperature your oven will go to) and pop the roast back into the oven for 6-10 minutes to crisp it and sear it on the outside.
• You may carve it immediately because it's already had it's "rest" time.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5lb | Calories: 677kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 60g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Cholesterol: 137mg | Sodium: 392mg | Potassium: 501mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 3.3mg

The post Garlicky Prime Rib appeared first on The Midnight Baker.

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