Raspberry, Lemon, and White Chocolate Rugelach

Yield: 16 large cookies
Recipe: 127/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 46

    Flour is once more abundant in my home. Well, not abundant but many pounds more than I had a few weeks ago. As such I have ramped up my baking once more and I was excited to try these raspberry, lemon and white chocolate rugelach. I had never heard of these Jewish delicacies, but I am very glad to have discovered them. These were truly one of the best cookies I have ever made. I say cookie, but truly they are more in between a cookie and a pastry. A cootry? A paskie? That sounds better.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ package (4 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup raspberry jam
• 60 g (2 oz) white chocolate, cut in chunks, or ½ cup white chocolate chips
• 1 egg white, for brushing (optional, see notes)

    These paskies smelled fantastic while baking, looked quite cute and tasted delicious. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I did not expect them to be that good. I don’t know why I thought this since raspberry and chocolate is a match made in heaven, so thankfully I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet yet not overly sweet pastry. Cookie. Not sure. Anna Olson proves once again that cream cheese is truly a secret weapon in pastry. The dough was perfectly flaky and just melted in the mouth with each bite. Truly a scrumptious treat to enjoy with some nice tea.

Directions:

1. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2. Beat in the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest.
3. Add the flour and the salt and stir until the dough evenly comes together. Shape the dough into 2 discs, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
5. On a lightly floured surfaced, roll out the first disc of dough into a circle about 12 inches (30 cm) across and just shy of ¼ inch thick. Trim away the rough edges.
6. Stir the raspberry jam to soften it, then stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. Spread half of the jam over the surface of the dough, right to the edges. Sprinkle half of the white chocolate over the jam.
7. Cut the dough into 8 wedges, and roll up each cookie from the large edge to its point, very much like a croissant, and place the cookies one inch apart on the baking tray.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 with the second disc of dough.
9. Whisk the egg white until it is very foamy and brush each cookie with it.
10. Sprinkle the cookies generously with sugar.
11. Bake the rugelach for 20-25 minutes, until they are an even golden colour. Let the cookies cool on the tray before removing them to store.

Note from Anna:

• These can be made egg-free by simply brushing the tops of the rolled cookies with milk in place of the egg white.

Valerie