Gooey Chewy Rugelach

Posted by - Michelle

Hi all. Last day of the month, my month, and here I finally am.

So, as a tribute to my late grandmother and mother, both of whom were wonderful cooks, I chose rugelach as my selection. So many fond memories. I think I had hyped it up in my head so much that I was a little nervous about my performance. But, it turned out great and I think I made my Grammy proud.

I didn't actually use the recipe I posted either. Kudos to all who snooped around for something they liked better. I found a cookbook I had bought at TJMaxx all about Jewish Feasts. So, I used that recipe.

The dough consisted of flour, unsalted butter and cottage cheese. Yep, you read it right, cottage cheese. I refrigerated it overnight and then made them the next day with my husbands help.

I let the dough sit for a little while until it was more room temperature. Couldn't find my rolling pin so I improvised and used a bottle of blueberry table wine. (Blech!)

I divided the dough before I refrigerated it so I proceeded to sort of roll it out into circles. Yeah, that's not easy to do, is it? And who decided that 1/8 of an inch was the right thickness. I eyeballed it.

I used cherry preserves, dried cherries and walnuts for the filling.

The rolling was pretty good. Not too much oozed out the ends of each roll. The chunks of cherry proved a little challenging but I just tried to squish things back in with a pinkie finger.

Once they were all rolled, we sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar and popped 'em in the oven for 30 minutes-ish.

They were quite good. I took a bite and I was 8 years old again, in the kitchen with my Grammy, tasting of her hard work. I looked up and smiled, thinking I'd done her proud.

On to the next recipe in her box...