Supper Club VI: Rugelach, Black & White Cookies
Ah, dessert. The most important part of any civilized meal, assuming, of course, that anybody had room left to eat it after the knish/cholent 1-2 punch. Fortunately, my guests were up to the challenge of enjoying not one but two fantastic desserts.
tigerlily_blue graciously offered to make rugelach. She prepared it earlier in the week and then flew in from Atlanta with a big bag of it. Fortunately, TSA didn't get any ideas when she went through security. Once again we turned to Smitten Kitchen, this time to the official cookbook.
Alex's Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes ~48 cookies
Dough
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 brick (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Fillings
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate or miniature chocolate chips
Glaze
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
Coarse sugar for sprinkling
Make the Dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese together until they are light and fluffy. In a medium bowl, combine the salt and flour, then pour flour mixture into the mixer. Beat on a lower speed until the flower just disappears. Scrape dough onto a large pieces of plastic wrap and shape as best you
can into a flatish packet. Wrap well in plastic and chill in fridge for two hours or up to three days. The dough can also be frozen for up to two months.
Prepare the baking sheets: Line three large baking sheets with parchment paper. (or, just use one sheet and bake in batches, which is what I did. Parchment paper is ESSENTIAL).
Prepare the fillings: Heat your jam in a small saucepan until it simmers. This will loosen it, so it will be easier to spread thinly. If your jam has seeds and you, like me, find raspberry seeds incredibly annoying, you can push the warm jam through a fine-mesh strainer to remove them. Set the warm jam aside.
Grab 4 small dishes. Stir together your sugar and cinnamon in one and set it aside. In your second dish, put the pecans. In your third bowl, put the chocolate. In the last one, whisk together your egg yolk and water until it is smooth. While you're getting organized, you'll also want to take out a rolling pin, flour for the counter, a
small offset spatula or butter knife for spreading the jam, a knife or pastry wheel for cutting the dough, a spoon for the dry toppings, a large piece of wax paper to help set the fillings, and a brush for the egg wash.
Assemble the rugelach: Divide your chilled dough into into thirds. On a well-floured counter, roll the first third (the remaining two can go back into the fridge until needed) into a large, thin circle about 12 inches in diameter - but please, no reason to trim the edges or fuss if it is slightly larger or smaller.
Spread 2-3 tablespoons of jam thinly over your dough. Sprinkle with 3 TBSP cinnamon sugar, 2 TBSP chopped chocolate and 1 TBSP chopped nuts. Use your piece of waxed paper to gently press the toppings into the dough so that they spill out less once rolled. You can set the paper aside for the remaining batches. Use your knife to divide the dough into 16 wedges. Roll each wedge tightly from the outside to the center. Transfer the rugelach to the prepared baking sheet - keeping the pointed end of each rugelach tucked underneath - and space them 1 inch apart. Pop the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. (I rolled all of my rugelach, put them on a plate and popped them in the fridge while I rolled the 2nd and 3rd batches. worked just as well - key is to keep rugelach chilled once assembled.)
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Repeat the rugelach-making process with remaining filling and two pieces of dough, then chill the trays in the freezer.
Bake the rugelach: Before baking, brush the rugelach with the egg yolk wash. Sprinkle with course sugar or extra cinnamon sugar. Bake the rugelach for 20-25 minutes, until they are puffed and golden brown. Transfer the rugelach to cooling racks while they are still hot - this is important because the jam that spills out will harden as it cools, making the cookies harder to remove from the paper. Serve cooled or lukewarm.
*Rugelach keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days and frozen between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
We had nearly 50 pieces of rugelach, but when we passed around a big bowl of them nearly all of them disappeared, so my guests must have had some room left for dessert after all! My sister reports that rugelach is a huge pain in the ass to make, or possibly a labor of love. She made three batches, so that's a lot of love! And then she wrote up this recipe for me, which she says was a second labor of love :-)
Our second dessert was another Smitten Kitchen recipe. This one was from the blog and is a homemade version of the classic Black & White cookie. tigerlily_blue did most of the baking here, with frosting assistance from both myself and Ethan
Black & White Cookies
Makes about 30 3-4 inch cookies
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
3 ounces very bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (optional, I do not believe we used)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper. (OMG Parchment Paper is so awesome)
2. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix by machine or hand until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then milk and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth. Scrape down bowl.
3. In medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed. Add dry mixture to the wet in batches, stirring well after each addition. Using a soup spoon, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.
4. Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot. Place confectioners’ sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl. Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo. Leave remaining boiling water on the stove.
5. Spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie. Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of the remaining frosting over the hot water and bring it back to a simmer (creating a double-boiler). Stir in the bitter or unsweetened chocolate until melted, as well as the light corn syrup.
NOTE - we skipped this next part: At this point, depending on the chocolate you used and your preferences, you might find the chocolate color to be a little lighter than the “black” of a black-and-white cookie. If so, I find that a tablespoon or so of cocoa mixed in darkens the color nicely.
6. Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. If the chocolate frosting starts to dry up, whisk in an extra teaspoon of that hot water from time to smooth it back into a shiny frosting. I actually had to stir more or less constantly to keep it from drying up at this point.
7. Let the frosting set. Store in an airtight container. These will go stale in a couple of days (because, hey, cake)
This was the only item on the menu that was a secret from the attendees prior to the event, but we had so many trays that we didn't really have a place to hide them. We settled for tucking them in various corners of the kitchen and hoping people wouldn't notice them. People seemed delighted by them. We even wrapped a few in plastic wrap and let people take them home for maximum authenticity.
That's all the recipes. There'll be one more post with some notes...
tigerlily_blue graciously offered to make rugelach. She prepared it earlier in the week and then flew in from Atlanta with a big bag of it. Fortunately, TSA didn't get any ideas when she went through security. Once again we turned to Smitten Kitchen, this time to the official cookbook.
Alex's Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes ~48 cookies
Dough
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 brick (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Fillings
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate or miniature chocolate chips
Glaze
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
Coarse sugar for sprinkling
Make the Dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese together until they are light and fluffy. In a medium bowl, combine the salt and flour, then pour flour mixture into the mixer. Beat on a lower speed until the flower just disappears. Scrape dough onto a large pieces of plastic wrap and shape as best you
can into a flatish packet. Wrap well in plastic and chill in fridge for two hours or up to three days. The dough can also be frozen for up to two months.
Prepare the baking sheets: Line three large baking sheets with parchment paper. (or, just use one sheet and bake in batches, which is what I did. Parchment paper is ESSENTIAL).
Prepare the fillings: Heat your jam in a small saucepan until it simmers. This will loosen it, so it will be easier to spread thinly. If your jam has seeds and you, like me, find raspberry seeds incredibly annoying, you can push the warm jam through a fine-mesh strainer to remove them. Set the warm jam aside.
Grab 4 small dishes. Stir together your sugar and cinnamon in one and set it aside. In your second dish, put the pecans. In your third bowl, put the chocolate. In the last one, whisk together your egg yolk and water until it is smooth. While you're getting organized, you'll also want to take out a rolling pin, flour for the counter, a
small offset spatula or butter knife for spreading the jam, a knife or pastry wheel for cutting the dough, a spoon for the dry toppings, a large piece of wax paper to help set the fillings, and a brush for the egg wash.
Assemble the rugelach: Divide your chilled dough into into thirds. On a well-floured counter, roll the first third (the remaining two can go back into the fridge until needed) into a large, thin circle about 12 inches in diameter - but please, no reason to trim the edges or fuss if it is slightly larger or smaller.
Spread 2-3 tablespoons of jam thinly over your dough. Sprinkle with 3 TBSP cinnamon sugar, 2 TBSP chopped chocolate and 1 TBSP chopped nuts. Use your piece of waxed paper to gently press the toppings into the dough so that they spill out less once rolled. You can set the paper aside for the remaining batches. Use your knife to divide the dough into 16 wedges. Roll each wedge tightly from the outside to the center. Transfer the rugelach to the prepared baking sheet - keeping the pointed end of each rugelach tucked underneath - and space them 1 inch apart. Pop the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. (I rolled all of my rugelach, put them on a plate and popped them in the fridge while I rolled the 2nd and 3rd batches. worked just as well - key is to keep rugelach chilled once assembled.)
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Repeat the rugelach-making process with remaining filling and two pieces of dough, then chill the trays in the freezer.
Bake the rugelach: Before baking, brush the rugelach with the egg yolk wash. Sprinkle with course sugar or extra cinnamon sugar. Bake the rugelach for 20-25 minutes, until they are puffed and golden brown. Transfer the rugelach to cooling racks while they are still hot - this is important because the jam that spills out will harden as it cools, making the cookies harder to remove from the paper. Serve cooled or lukewarm.
*Rugelach keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days and frozen between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
We had nearly 50 pieces of rugelach, but when we passed around a big bowl of them nearly all of them disappeared, so my guests must have had some room left for dessert after all! My sister reports that rugelach is a huge pain in the ass to make, or possibly a labor of love. She made three batches, so that's a lot of love! And then she wrote up this recipe for me, which she says was a second labor of love :-)
Our second dessert was another Smitten Kitchen recipe. This one was from the blog and is a homemade version of the classic Black & White cookie. tigerlily_blue did most of the baking here, with frosting assistance from both myself and Ethan
Black & White Cookies
Makes about 30 3-4 inch cookies
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
3 ounces very bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (optional, I do not believe we used)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper. (OMG Parchment Paper is so awesome)
2. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix by machine or hand until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then milk and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth. Scrape down bowl.
3. In medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed. Add dry mixture to the wet in batches, stirring well after each addition. Using a soup spoon, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.
4. Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot. Place confectioners’ sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl. Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo. Leave remaining boiling water on the stove.
5. Spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie. Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of the remaining frosting over the hot water and bring it back to a simmer (creating a double-boiler). Stir in the bitter or unsweetened chocolate until melted, as well as the light corn syrup.
NOTE - we skipped this next part: At this point, depending on the chocolate you used and your preferences, you might find the chocolate color to be a little lighter than the “black” of a black-and-white cookie. If so, I find that a tablespoon or so of cocoa mixed in darkens the color nicely.
6. Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. If the chocolate frosting starts to dry up, whisk in an extra teaspoon of that hot water from time to smooth it back into a shiny frosting. I actually had to stir more or less constantly to keep it from drying up at this point.
7. Let the frosting set. Store in an airtight container. These will go stale in a couple of days (because, hey, cake)
This was the only item on the menu that was a secret from the attendees prior to the event, but we had so many trays that we didn't really have a place to hide them. We settled for tucking them in various corners of the kitchen and hoping people wouldn't notice them. People seemed delighted by them. We even wrapped a few in plastic wrap and let people take them home for maximum authenticity.
That's all the recipes. There'll be one more post with some notes...