Brown Sugar-Hazelnut Rugelach
Baking holiday cookies is a fun project for this cold and wet weekend. I warmed up my kitchen this morning with a big batch of tender rugelach. The contrast of a delicate unsweetened crust wrapped around a sweet nut filling has always made these bite-sized pastries impossible for me to resist. They take a little more work to form than simple drop cookies, such as chocolate chip or oatmeal, but they are so tasty with such an exquisitely fragile texture, every bite reminds me why I like to make them.
Mixing the butter and cream cheese dough the night before simplifies baking day. This morning I sprinkled the dough with nuts, sugar and spice, rolled it up into little rugs (the meaning of rugelach), and popped them in the oven. Within minutes, the cinnamon in the filling scented the house, and made me eager to taste the first batch.
My version is a variation on the rugelach my Grandmother used to make; toasted hazelnuts and brown sugar replace the traditional walnuts and granulated sugar. I created them for the cookie book I wrote many years ago, and I have been baking these delicacies every holiday season since then. The recipe can now be found along with many others in the new Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home.
Brown Sugar–Hazelnut Rugelach
Makes 4 dozen cookies
Dough
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ cups (7½ ounces) hazelnuts
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Topping
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water
For the dough: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the salt. On low speed, add the flour and mix just until a dough forms.
Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. Using floured hands, form the dough into a log. Cut into 4 equal portions. Flatten each portion into a disk, wrap the disks separately in waxed paper, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
For the filling: In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast, stirring occasionally, until they deepen in color and the papery skins begin to pull away, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly, then wrap the nuts in a kitchen towel and rub vigorously to remove the skins. It’s fine if a few skin pieces cling to the nuts. Chop the nuts finely. Raise the oven temperature to 375°F.
Butter 2 baking sheets. Let the dough disks stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes to soften slightly.
Lightly flour 1 dough disk and place between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Roll out into a round 10 inches in diameter and1⁄8 inch thick. Remove the top sheet, brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, and then sprinkle the dough with one-fourth of the sugar mixture. Top evenly with one-fourth of the nuts. Using a rolling pin, gently roll over the filling to help it adhere to the dough. Cut the round into 12 wedges (see tips). Starting at the wide end, roll up each wedge. Transfer to a prepared baking sheet, arranging them point side down and 1 inch apart. Repeat with the remaining dough disks and filling.
For the topping: In a bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Brush the cookies with the egg white–water mixture, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Tips
To cut each dough round into 12 even wedges- Divide each dough round into quarters, then cut each quarter into 3 equal wedges.
Photo by Richard Eskite
Tags: cookies
, hazelnuts
Categories:
Desserts,
Recipes
Subscribe to My Blog
Follow Me on Twitter
Follow Me on Facebook
December 20, 2010 11:26 AM
Yes, I'm a nice Jewish girl, so I'm a sucker for a great rugalach. This looks like a recipe I will definitely try over the holidays. The only downside is I'll have to share them :) Happy Holidays Miss KK.