New York West Bakery and Cafe is a paid advertiser of Sonoran Living
Rugelach: The Cookie that Wants to be a Croissant!
Ah, the croissant, the one pastry that rules them all. After all, it is that fine French baking
product that goes beyond simple flour, yeast, and sugar, with the addition of lamination, a
laborious and tricky process in which sheets of butter are layered into the dough. People love its soft, buttery, and flaky texture. On the other hand, the cookie is our "go-to" sweet-but it can be dry, crumbly, and just plain boring.
Enter the rugelach which yearns to be more than a cookie. It wants to be a croissant. While there are a few pronunciations, a common one is "roo-guh-lah." Rugelach originated in Eastern Europe and the word rugelach, in Yiddish, means "little twist"; so right off the bat it is going after the beloved croissant (which presumably is the "big twist"). The rugelach steps into the competition by mimicking the croissant's buttery taste and flaky texture. An American take on the rugelach skips yeast altogether and the result is a recipe with unleavened dough and the addition of cream cheese.
While not all croissants and cookies have a filling, rugelach is always filled. A popular filling is chocolate ganache. So have the filling on hand before diving into construction.
Rugelach is made in three simple steps:
1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Roll out the dough and spread on the filling.
3. Bake and enjoy.
Begin by mixing the dry ingredients-flour, salt, sugar, cream cheese, and butter-then knead the dough into bars. Next, roll out the dough bars into rectangular sheets and spread on the filling. How the sheets are cut and divided determines the shape.
For example, to make a crescent shape, cut the sheets into long triangles and roll up each of the triangle sheets from the long tip into the base. To make snail or bun shapes, roll the sheets into long logs and make half-way cuts one inch apart along the log.
Finally, bake the rugelach until golden brown, then cut into individual pieces. They will be sweet, buttery, and flaky. They're just delightful and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Rugelach is best shared with family and friends along with coffee or tea.
In Sun City, AZ, New York West Bakery and Cafe makes rugelach from scratch with popular fillings like chocolate, raspberry, and apricot. For adventurous palates, they also have cinnamon, guava, and mango-flavored rugelach. Take that, Monsieur Croissant!
New York West Bakery and Cafe
10101 W. Grand Ave., Sun City, AZ 85351
(623) 583-7620
www.newyorkwestbakery.com
