rugelach

Rugelach (רוגלך) is a Jewish pastry of Ashkenazic origin. The name is a Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew, meaning "creeping vine," perhaps due to the rolled-up shape of the cookie.

living far away from home, makes you miss simple everyday treats. one of those is the rugelach, a regular treat for shabbat. now, i find myself eating them only when i go to israel. there are rugelachs in ny but i have to say, they are not the same as the israeli ones. when the rugelach is made correctly, the dough is soft and tender, it just melts in your mouth. the most common filling for rugelach is chocolate, my favorite, but you can also have different fillings such as raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, poppy seeds, or apricot preserves. the filling is rolled inside the dough.
i wanted to try and "relive" home, so i decided to make them myself. the beauty with that is that i can make a big amount of them, freeze them and than just reheat in the oven for 10 minutes. i would not keep them in the freezer for more than few weeks.
i was making rugelachs one friday night, wanting them to be ready for breakfast the next day. after the first rising of the dough, at 11 o'clock at night, i realized that i was out of butter. determined to complete the task i left the dough in the bowl all wrapped up, and put it in the fridge till the next morning. i woke up extra early saturday, and ran to the deli for some butter. i was worried that leaving the dough in the fridge all night will harm it, but it did not, the rugelachs came out amazing; bit crisp on the outside, and soft and tender on the inside. the recipe indicates to use dark chocolate for the filling, and it came out a bit bitter for my taste. i am more of a milk chocolate person, it still did not prevent me from eating 5.

INGREDIENTS
dough:
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup water
2oz butter - room temperature
1 egg
4oz butter - chilled

filling:
4oz butter
1 cup dark chocolate
1 cup cocoa

topping:
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup boiling water with 1 cup sugar
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PREPARATION
filling:
melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pot with boiling water. add cocoa and continue stirring till everything is melted and smooth. set aside.
dough:
Stir together yeast and 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
in a mixer bowl mix the flour and salt. add the liquid ingredients; yeast mixture, rest of the water, butter and eggs at low speed until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium and beat 3 minutes more.
Scrape dough down side of bowl (all around) into center, cover with plastic wrap and place in room temperature for 1 hours.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 20 inch by 10 inch rectangle and 1 inch thick.
wrap the chilled butter with backing sheet and roll it out into 1/2 inch thickness. remove the top backing sheet and turn on dough. remove the rest of the baking sheet, and fold the 4 sided of the dough to cover the butter.
flour surface and roll out dough again with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 20 inch by 10 inch rectangle and 1 inch thick. fold sides of the rectangle. cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for half an hour.
as before, flour surface and roll out the dough again with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 20 inch by 10 inch rectangle and 1 inch thick. fold sides of the rectangle. cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for one hour.
preheat oven to 350Fº.
divide dough into two and roll out each dough portion, one at a time, into an 1/8-inch thickness, rotating the dough often to be sure that it is not sticking.
poor filling and spread evenly on the dough. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 3 inch by 12 inch triangles. Use a thin knife, if necessary, to loosen the triangles from the board. Starting at the wide end, roll up the triangle and bend the ends around to form a slight crescent shape. Place the rugelach, point underneath, about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. brush the rugelach with the beaten egg.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. when rugelachs are ready, brush them with the sugar syrup. let them cool down for 30 minutes before eating.

Store: In an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer.
Keeps: 5 days at room temperature, 3 months frozen.

*medium
*makes 20 rugelachs