STILL NEW YORK-HUNGRY

44. Christmas Cookies II.

These are the Christmas presents for my friends here (in Luxembourg).



Serves:

32 Rugelach
17 (34) Spiced Date-Cookies
17 Chocolate Whoopie Pies


Prep Time:

7+ hrs Rugelach; including resting time + shaping
1 hr Spiced Date-Cookies
2+ hrs Whoopi Pies


Degree of Difficulty:

RUGELACH: If this was meditation, we'd be on BUDDHA level. You CAN'T do ANY shortcuts. When you aren't VERY gentle and VERY slow at EVERY step, you'll ROYALLY F– them up – simple as that!

SPICED DATE COOKIES: Easy
CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE WHOOPIES: Intermediate I only say burst icing bag.




RUGELACH






DOUGH:

200 gr / 7 oz. soft butter

200 gr / 7 oz. full-fat cream cheese When you use this, because of the higher fat + protein content, you're full quicker and can't eat so many at once.

Salt
1 egg yolk
250 gr / 8.75 oz. flour



FILLING:

100 gr / 3.5 oz. dried, soft apricots
150 gr / 5.25 oz. walnuts
120 gr / 4.25 oz. dark chocolate
50 gr / 1.75 oz. orange marmelade

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon CEYLON, not the (cheaper) CASSIA, which contains too much Cumarin which damages the liver. SHOUT-OUT to all cinnamon-LOVERS.

1 tbsp raw cane sugar




BRUSHING:

1 egg yolk
2-3 tbsp raw cane sugar For me, 2 were sufficient.



WE DO

1. Mix butter, cream cheese, flour, egg yolk and 1/4 tsp salt in a mixing bowl and knead them into a smooth dough. Wrap it into cling film and refrigerate it for 4 hours.


2. For the filling, finely cube the apricots. Below I say I've blitzed the dates in the food processor. DON'T EVEN TRY THAT – my food processor almost didn't survive it! That shortcut definitely didn't work. And chopping like 12 apricots almost cost me 1 hr because the little S– cling like S– and kept adhering to the knife (and my fingers), which WAS sharpened, KLUGSCHEIßER! It doesn't show in the end result, though, and that's the main thing. Finely chop walnuts + chocolate. Yup, blitzed 'em without problem. Mix everything with orange marmalade, sugar + cinnamon.


3. Halve the dough – I quartered it, see below. Flour a working surface and roll out the dough round and 3-4 mm / 1/7 in thin. Spread the according amount of filling half OR quarter on top, paying attention that an about 1/3 in portion in the middle is spared. There's the apex of the later dough triangles where the Rugelach are "closed" before being baked. Also, don't put too much filling on the dough, otherwise it oozes out the sides when you roll the Rugelach. 1/6 in at most Cut 16 same-sized triangles at a time. Here quartering the dough mightily helped me, and yet they result's far from being even sized. But it facilitates working the dough in general. Roll the triangles tightly – but not so tight the dough tears – from OUTside IN and "close" them by pressing the "roll" lightly onto the bare cusp.






4. Line two baking sheets with baking paper and place the Rugelach "cusp down" on them, with some space between them. Refrigerate them for another 30 minutes. YES, fridge tetris with loaded baking sheets. Viel Spaß.


5. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F fan/convection. Whisk egg yolk together with 1 tbsp water, brush the Rugelach with it and sprinkle them with raw cane sugar immediately.





6. Bake them for 20-25 minutes OR until golden brown / crisp. Since every oven is different this may take longer / shorter


7. Remove the Rugelach from the oven, let them cool briefly on the baking sheets, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool off completely.





SPICED-DATE-COOKIES I halved the recipe to not have so much excess Original quantities in brackets






WE NEED

60 (120) gr / 2 (4.25) oz. dried, pitted dates
50 (100) gr / 1.75 (3.5) oz. pecans They were out, so I took walnuts
60 (120) gr / 2 (4.25) oz. raisins
60 (125) gr / 2 (4.25) oz. soft butter
100 (200) gr / 3.5 (7) oz. sugar
100 (200) gr / 3.5 (7) oz. flour
1 (2) egg(s) L (M)-sized
1/2 (1) tsp baking powder

1/3 (3/4) tsp ground cinnamon CEYLON as the (cheaper) CASSIA contains too much Cumarin which damages the liver

3/4 (1.5) tsp gingerbread spice I made a MIX of 1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon + ginger PLUS 1 pinch each of nutmeg + cloves. I mortared the cloves, then mixed with a spoon.

1/2 (1) tbsp molasses




WE DO

1. Roughly chop dates + nuts. If you're like ME, you can blitz both, but the food processor has considerate work with the dates. Also do 2-3 rounds with the nuts as you shall NOT flour but chop them

2. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F fan/convection and line two baking sheets with baking paper.

3. Beat the butter until creamy, gradually adding the sugar. (Singly), add the egg(s) and whisk in each thoroughly until the mass is creamily thick.

4. Mix flour, baking powder, spices, nuts, dates + raisins in a bowl. Whisk the molasses into the egg-butter-mass, add the flour mix and swiftly stir it into the mass with a spoon.

5. With a teaspoon, take bits of dough, shape them round and place them with ample space on the baking sheets. Try wetting or flouring your hands as the mass is really sticky

6. Bake them for 10-12 minutes OR until they're solid OUTside + soft INside. Since every oven is different this can take longer / shorter

7. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them cool a few minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer them on a wire rack to cool off completely.




CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE WHOOPIES





WE NEED


DOUGH:

100 gr / 3.5 oz. soft butter
100 gr / 3.5 oz. icing sugar
2 eggs M-sized OR 1 L-sized
250 gr / 8.8 oz. flour
1.5 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp chocolate pudding powder Nope! (Organic) cornstarch has the same effect, MINUS the artificial aromas to create "chocolate taste"

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp gingerbread spice Mixed 1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon + ginger and a pinch each of nutmeg + cloves which I ground in a mortar.

75 ml / 2.5 US fl.oz. milk



FILLING:

100 gr / 3.5 oz. white chocolate
200 gr / 7 oz ful-fat cream cheese
75 gr / 2.5 oz. soft butter
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 splashes lemon juice Be VERY slow, it shall not become too liquid




WE DO


DOUGH:


1. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.


2. Beat the butter until creamy, gradually adding the icing sugar. Mix in the eggs thoroughly.


3. In a bowl, mix flour, baking-/ cocoa- / chocolate pudding powders (/ cornstarch) + gingerbread spice For the spice, see above. Portion-wise (4-6), mix the flour mix into the sugar-butter-egg-mass, alternating with about 4 x 2 tbsp milk.


4. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F fan/convection.


5. Fill the dough into an icing bag (nozzle 2 cm / ~ 1 in) and squirt about 4 cm / ~2 in circles, 2 cm / ~ 1 in high onto the baking sheets with some space between. Ha! NOT! I'd just filled the bloody bugger when the nozzle popped out of the icing bag! Since the batter was already in it – and it would've been too great a Sauerei trying to prep another bag and transfer the whole stuff into that, I simply squeezed about 1 in long... "quantities" onto the baking sheets, shaping them round with finger/teaspoon They don't look like it, though!.






5. Bake them for 12-15 minutes, then remove them from the oven, let them cool briefly on the baking sheets before transferring them onto a cake rack to cool completely.


6. For the filling, melt chocolate on lowest heat, otherwise it burns, then let it cool slightly, while you froth up the cream cheese. Add the chocolate, then butter + lemon zest, whisking the whole time, and eventually season with lemon juice. Careful, it quickly gets too sour so go slow


7. Fill the cream into an icing bag. Accident-FREE this time, phew! On half of the whoopies-to-be squirt icing, about 1/3 in thick. Put the other Whoopie halves on top and GENTLY press together.





If some are left, they keep fresh for 7-10 days in an airtight container in the fridge. DON'T take any risks You don't want food poising because of cream filling gone foul.



FRöHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN, HAPPY CHRISTMAS & GUTEN HUNGER!