Apricot and Raisin Rugelach

Note: I was sent a copy of AMERICAN COOKIE: The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations for review. Opinions are mine alone.

Every cookie recipe has a back story, from the chocolate chip cookie to thumbprint cookies. What’s truly interesting about these back stories is how they align with the shaping of American baking through the generations. I love cookbooks that provide a back story to the recipes, like AMERICAN COOKIE: The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations by Anne Bryn. Did you know that the first snickerdoodle cookie recipes were actually bars? Or that the first Girl Scout Cookies were baked at home to help raise money to send girls to camp?

Source: Penguin Random House

I assume I’m not alone in associating different recipes with different parts of my own life. I can’t look at a Peanut Butter Cookie without thinking of my family’s recipe, passed down from my great grandmother, or snack on a Neiman Marcus “$250” cookies without recalling many December weekends spent making them with my mom as a child.

I was first introduced to rugelach cookies — a cookie made by rolling a triangle of dough around a sweet filling — by my mother-in-law. She makes them every Christmas and has since my husband was little. So when I saw a recipe for Apricot and Raisin Rugelach in AMERICAN COOKIE, I knew I had to try them as a nod to my mother-in-law’s fantastic baking every December. This recipe differs from my mother-in-law’s version but the general idea is still there.

Rugelach cookies were first brought to America from Austrian-Hungarian immigrants, and has over time been adapted and modernized by Jewish-American bakers. Apparently, the original dough was quite time consuming to make. Somewhere along the line, cream cheese was added to rugelach dough, resulting in an easy to work with and flaky dough. Rugelach cookies have become a staple in many American households, and typically include raisins, nuts, spices and jam or preserves as a filling.

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 8 oz cream cheese, at room  temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough

Filling:

  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
  • 1 cup apricot preserves

Egg Wash:

  • 1 large egg white
  • 1 teaspoon water

Reprinted from AMERICAN COOKIE. Copyright © 2018 by Anne Byrn. Published by Rodale Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.

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Raspberry Pocket Cookies (Himbeerdasche)

Note: I was sent a review copy of Dutch Treats: Heirloom Recipes from Farmhouse Kitchens

I live in Philadelphia, and a one of the largest influences on our local food is definitely Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. Despite growing up here, I haven’t cooked many traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, although I certainly have been known to eat them!

Internationally known food historian William Woys Weaver has compiled over 100 heritage recipes, and the stories behind them, into one wonderful cookbook – Dutch Treats: Heirloom Recipes from Farmhouse Kitchens.

Recipes include Shoofly Cake, New Year’s Pretzels and the original recipe for Snickerdoodles. Dutch Treats
 explores the vast diversity of authentic baked goods, festive breads and pastries that we call Pennsylvania Dutch (named for the German-speaking immigrants who settled there starting in the late 1600s).

I enjoyed reading the back stories to all of these delicious baked goods as I paged through the book. From learning about traditional holiday treats, to why pretzels are considered good luck, the cookbook was an interesting read as well as a great source of yummy recipes.

I decided to make Raspberry Pockets, using a recipe for Almond Pastry Dough that dates back to a late 18th century recipe. I edited the recipe just a bit to use Orange Blossom Water instead of Rose Water, because that was what I had on hand. I also made the cookies a bit larger than suggested.

Ingredients:

For Almond Pastry Dough

  • 5 cups pastry flour
  • 1 cup superfine (caster) sugar
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
  • 2 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the raspberry pockets)
  • 6 to 9 tablespoons dry white wine

For Raspberry Pockets

  • 1 cup fresh red raspberries
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water or to taste
  • 1 batch almond pastry dough
  • 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
  • crystal (coarse) sugar, to taste

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Margherita Pan Pizza

The September Issue of Cooking Light has a super yummy looking pizza on the front. The pizza shown was a Deep Dish Mushroom and Onion Pizza but the photo made me think of pan pizzas I used to love as a kid. So I decided to try to make my own in my cast iron pan but give it a more “grown up” twist by making a Margherita Pan Pizza.

The result was a nice thick and chewy crust with the perfect amount of tangy tomato sauce, creamy melted mozzarella, and fresh basil! The dough is so simple to make but it does need to rise overnight so prepare ahead.

Ingredients: For the dough:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh active yeast
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

For the tomato sauce:

  • 1 15 oz can tomato puree
  • 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 garlic clove, minced

Toppings:

  • 8 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped or julienned

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