Sourdough Rugelach

Since I was travelling early in December and then got sick, I didn't get much Christmas baking done.  I decided to try my hand at Sourdough Rugelach after seeing them on December's Sourdough Surprises.  Rugelach are a filled, rolled cookie/pastry.

The original recipe was here and I took my filling ideas from here and here.

Ingredients for dough

 

1/2 c butter

3 ounces cream cheese

1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sourdough 
1 c flour (I used 1/2 c whole wheat and 1/2 c white)
 

fillings - I checked out the fillings above and adjusted them to go with the jams I wanted to use.  You can change them to suit your taste.

filling #1

1/4 c spiced apricot jam

2 Tbsp chopped walnuts

2 Tbsp chopped raisins

filling #2

blackberry jam

chopped chocolate chips

chopped walnuts

filling #3

apple pie jam

cinnamon

chopped walnuts

chopped dried cranberries

filling #4

chopped raisins

chopped walnuts

cinnamon

sugar

filling #5

spiced apricot jam

chopped raisins

chopped walnuts

chopped dried cranberries

 

Beat butter and cream cheese together.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat again.  Add sourdough and flour and mix on low speed until mixture becomes a sticky dough.

 

Knead gently a few times on a floured surface.  Form dough into flat ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

 

Cut dough in half and place rest back in fridge.  Work quickly so dough doesn't get sticky.  Place dough onto lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle about 14" by 6".

 

 

Since I wanted to try several fillings, I cut the rectangle in half.  For the first half, I mixed together the jam and chopped raisins and walnuts.  I spread the mixture on the dough leaving space at the edge.  Having the raisins and nuts mixed in made the rugelach easier to roll.

 

 

Filling #2 called for mini chocolate chips.  I only had regular ones and tried to chop them in food processor - not too successfully as some of the chips turned to powder and others stayed whole.  Plus the food processor was sticky to clean.  Here I spread the jam and sprinkled on the chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

 

Roll the dough starting on the long side.  Cut slices about an inch wide and place on parchment paper.  In the original recipe you sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on the jam mixture which I thought was unnecessary.  In one of the recipes, they brushed the unbaked cookies with an egg wash and sprinkled on cinnamon sugar which I didn't do either. 

 

For the second half of the dough, I decided to try rolling them crescent-style.  Again roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface.  I used an 8" round cake pan to cut the circles.  Press scrap dough into a ball and refrigerate until ready to use it.

For the next filling I used jam, chopped cranberries and walnuts.  Spread almost to the edge.

 

Cut dough in half and then in half again.  Cut each quarter into thirds and you will have 12 cookies.  Start rolling each piece from the outer edge. 

I found these a little more finicky then the long roll.  Again place on parchment paper.



 

I then tried a cinnamon - sugar mixture with chopped raisins and nuts.  This was much harder to roll as the filling wasn't sticky so it fell out instead of sticking to the dough.

You can see the mess on the parchment paper.  It was much harder to keep these intact.

The last filling was jam and the leftover chopped raisins, cranberries and walnuts.  I just rolled the leftover dough into a rectangle and rolled and cut the rugelach as before.

Bake at 350°F for about 15 or so minutes until cookies are brown around the edges, turning pans after 10 minutes.  Some people sprinkle the cookies with icing sugar.  Cool rugelach and enjoy!



The rugelach were a big hit.  They tasted part pastry - part cookie.  I enjoyed the spice jam ones and also the ones with chocolate.  The filling variety is as broad as your imagination.  ;)

Sourdough Sharing - Cookies

I was asked to join a group of bloggers (Sourdough Surprises) that enjoy using sourdough.  Each month, the group is asked to make a recipe in a chosen category and submit it on the 20th of the month.

I decided to join and participate whenever I can as I am always on the lookout for more sourdough recipes and this seemed like the perfect place to find and share new recipes.

This month's topic is cookies.  Since I have been away plus have been ill, I haven't done any baking lately.  I do have two cookies recipes to share that I have previously made and posted.  Just click on the cookie name and you will be linked to the original recipe.

Sourdough Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies is my standby sourdough cookie.  It is moist and chewy and filled with oats, chocolate chips and nuts.

 



I adapted the above recipe and came up with Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies .  The cookies are a bit drier tasting, but most peanut butter cookies are.

 

 

 



Martian Cookies

Since I have a number of large zucchini that I plan to use for Zucchini Candy  http://mountaingardengleanings.blogspot.ca/2010/10/zucchini-candy.html , I decided to spare one to bake with.  It was a cooler day here, so I didn't mind using the oven and I had a hankering for homemade cookies.

I got the recipe for Martian Cookies years ago from Better Homes and Gardens - Cookies for Kids cookbook.  My boys loved the cookies so I made it whenever I had zucchini.  I had lost the cookbook through moves, etc. and finally ran across it again at a charity book sale a few years ago.

Ingredients

1/2 c butter or marg
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c quick oats
1 c grated unpeeled zucchini
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c butterscotch chips


I like to use my food processor instead of my grater to grate the zucchini - it is SO much easier.

 

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla at beat again.

 

In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, and soda.  Add to the butter mixture, beating until well mixed.

 

Add the rest of the ingredients.

 

Stir until well mixed.

 

Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes until cookies are golden.

 

 

Cool on rack.  Makes 4 dozen cookies.  Enjoy!  ;)

 

 

 

Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe was adapted from the Robin Hood Sherwood Oat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe published previously.

Ingredients

3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. shortening  **  I use margarine or butter  
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 c. sugar    ** I use 1/2 cup sugar
½ c brown sugar   ** I use 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 c. sourdough
2 eggs
1/4 c. water
1 c peanut butter chips   ** could use chocolate chips instead
1/2 c. chopped peanuts 

Cream together shortening, sugars, and peanut butter.

Add eggs, sourdough and water.  Mix well.

Mix in flour and baking soda.  Stir in chips and peanuts.

Roll into small balls and place on greased cookie sheets.  Press flat with a fork. 

Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.  

Again, I usually get over 6 dozen so I must make my cookies smaller.  I think it started when my boys were young.  I would bake a full day and make a number of kinds of cookies to freeze.  When we refilled the cookie jar, there would sometimes be as many as half a dozen varieties.  It was hard for the boys to choose a cookie so I would make them smaller and they could have three.  So we always had the rule of three which worked until they went elsewhere and thought that have a cookie meant have three.  :)

Sourdough Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are our favorite sourdough cookies.  I keep them separate from the other cookies so they stay soft and chewy.  If I put them in the cookie jar with the others, they lose their moistness and become rather dry.

This recipe comes from the Robin Hood Sherwood recipes.
Ingredients
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 c. rolled oats
1 c. shortening  **  I use margarine or butter  ** sometimes I substitute 1/2 cup of applesauce for 1/2 of the shortening
1 c. sugar    ** I use 1/2 cup sugar
½ c brown sugar   ** I use 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 c. sourdough
2 eggs
1/4 c. water
1 c chocolate chips or raisins  ** I often combine chocolate and butterscotch chips
1/2 c. nuts  ** I sometimes use sunflower seeds instead of nuts

Combine flour, soda and oats.

Cream together shortening and sugars. Beat in eggs.

Add sourdough and water.

Add flour mixture. Mix well.

Stir in chips and nuts.

Drop by teaspoonful onto lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 min. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

I always seem to get 5 to 6 dozen instead of 4 dozen as the recipe suggests.  To get the 4 dozen, you would probably need to use a tablespoon instead of teaspoon.

Citrus Meltaways

These cookies say Christmas to me almost as much as shortbread cookies with their red and green cherries.  I started with Martha Stewart's recipe http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/lime-meltaways  and tweaked it a bit because to me orange is more of a Christmas taste than lime.

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/3 cup sifted icing sugar plus extra for coating cookies at end
Grated zest of 2 oranges
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp vanilla (yes TBSP)
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch 

Beat butter and icing sugar until fluffy.  Add orange zest, lemon juice and vanilla and mix well.  Sift together flour and cornstarch and mix into butter mixture.  

Divide dough into two equal pieces. 

Roll each piece into a roll 1 1/4 " thick. 

Wrap rolls in wax paper and refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. *NOTE - I was out of parchment and used wax paper instead and it smoked a fair bit!  Slice rolls into 1/8" thick slices and place on paper.

Bake until slightly golden (MS says 13-15 min) about 10 minutes.

Let cookies cool slightly and place in bag with icing sugar to coat.

MS recipe said 10 dozen but I only got 7 dozen.  Very tasty orange flavor.  Yum!  Enjoy!