Posted by -Sue
I'd never made rugelach before this challenge and, trust me, I'll never make them again!! I looked at a lot of recipes online, as I usually do, and came up with a yummy sounding recipe with cream cheese pastry and apricot filling. Well, they were yummy, but I haven't done a challenge that I liked less than this one. I had no fun making them!!
Making the dough wasn't a big deal. The recipe said to divide the dough into 4 pieces and refridgerate for 2 hours or overnight. Being pressed for time, I opted for overnight. Mistake #1. The dough was so hard when I took it out of the fridge that it was like trying to roll cement. The directions said to roll the dough out in a circle an eighth of an inch thick. Well, as many years as I've been rolling pie dough I have yet to figure out a way to really roll anything that resembles a circle, so frustration was starting to set in. The recipe then called for spreading apricot jam on the dough, which I ended up doing with my hands, and then sprinkling said dough with a combination of chopped apricots and cinnamon sugar. OK, not too bad. Then the recipe said to cut the circle in 12 wedges. By now the dough was so soft that I had trouble cutting it (more frustration) . On to the roll-up part. Except the dough was soft enough by now that it didn't want to roll, and all the filling was oozing out as I rolled. By now I was ready to tear my hair out, and I had 3 more pieces of dough to deal with. Aha, I thought, I'll do the next 3 all at once. Mistake #2. Of course the last of the pieces was sticking to the counter, because now it was too soft. At that point I just wanted to get them in the oven and be done with them, but there was one more surprise waiting for me. As they baked, all that apricot jam oozed out of the rugelach onto the parchment paper and under the dough. And then it burned.
I had started out taking pictures, but half way through, covered with sticky dough and apricot jam, I quickly gave that up as a lost cause. Because the dough was so soft it really didn"t "roll", so I ended up with kind of flattened looking things. Not pretty. My only consolation was that they did taste good, but I'm not sure all that aggravation was worth it! I'm hoping Feb's challenge won't make me quite so nuts!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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6 comments:
Taste counts for a lot. I feel badly, it did not work for you because rugelach are delicious and when they work out, they are pretty.
I have made so many sweets that were ugly or burnt or squished, I am getting too comfortable with them.
I'm sorry you had trouble with these. I'm really surprised to see how difficult these are working out to make. Who knew?! I'm glad at least that they tasted good which as S&S said counts for a lot.
Oh Sue,Makes me un happy that it didn work for u and yeah i do agree flavour counts for a lot too but if u ever have it ,to try it again...can i add a few tips?
I aint no expert and this is the first time i made rugelach too and infact never had or heard about them before....
Number 1 ,u can roll it into a rectangle,to a thickeness ur jus comfy with ,keep it in the freezer a while and spread jam and roll ever so lightly,again in the freezer for another 10-15 mins and cut it like u would say a ice boz cookie(hope am correct coz have never made an ice box cookie)
NExt ,i took got every pie like wedge a different size and yeah in between all the steps the freezer was my best friend...
I refrigerated the dough for almost 5 days if i remember correctly,so b4 rollinf it out,like for a butter cookie,keep it out awhile so that u have no cracks and yeah i roll it between 2 sheets of butter/parchment paper....
So u see it aint ur fault,jus the weather coz it happenned to me too with soft dough(its cream cheese and butter after all)...jus that the freezer bailed me out here...
And am so sure with that combi of fillings urs did sure taste real good and if thats there,u have a winner...cheers and hope u do and u will get em right in the looks department too someday....
was only trying to be a little helpful here coz really felt bad with ur post so do hope i didn go over board....
have a rocking day Sue.
Sorry this was so frustrating for you! This seems to have been a tough one for a lot of us.
That sounds exactly like the recipe I used! They were tough, but I did love them enough to attempt again sometime!
Sorry these didn't work. I completely understand the frustration! I think (HOPE!!) you'll next month's challenge. :)
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