Cranberry Raspberry Rugelach

When I told my friend Robin of Doves and Figs that I was planning on cooking my first Hanukkah dinner, she told me to keep an eye out on her blog for her Cranberry Raspberry Rugelach recipe.  To be honest, when I first saw the recipe, I was a bit intimidated.  After all, I'm not much of a baker!  But I was up for the challenge and decided to give these delightful little bites a try.

On Friday night, the rugelach was the first thing I got started on.  I cut two sticks of unsalted butter into two cups of flour in the food processor.  I pulsed this mixture until it became a coarse crumbly mixture.

Meanwhile, Bret mixed one egg yolk into 3/4 cup of sour cream.

We mixed the sour cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture until it formed a rough ragged ball of dough.

The dough was split into quarters and rolled into four balls.  Each ball of dough was wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and chilled in the refrigerator for about three hours while Bret and I prepared the ingredients for the rest of Hanukkah dinner.  When all of the savory dishes were mostly prepared for, we returned our attention back to the rugelach.

In a Dutch oven on medium heat, I combined two cups (about half a bag) of fresh cranberries, 1/2 cup of golden raisins, three tablespoons of orange juice, 1/2 cup sugar and one cinnamon stick.  I cooked and mixed these ingredients for about fifteen minutes until the cranberries had popped and the sauce had thickened.  It smelled like a really delicious cranberry sauce! 

When the cranberries were soft and popped, I removed the Dutch oven from the heat and threw out the cinnamon stick.  I poured the cranberry raisin mixture into the food processor and also added 2/3 cup of raspberry jam.  The recipe called for seedless raspberry jam but I didn't have any on hand and in the end, the seeds didn't make any difference.  I pulsed the ingredients until it was a thick but spreadable jam-like texture.

The cranberry raspberry filling was put in the refrigerator to chill while we got the rest of the rugelach assembly line ready.  This included melting one stick of butter in the microwave at three fifteen second intervals, measuring out 3/4 cup of finely chopped walnuts, and combining 1/2 cup sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon.

I took one ball of dough out and Bret rolled it out as close to a nine-inch circle as possible.  Using a silicone pastry brush, I gently brushed the melted butter onto the dough.  Bret spread 1/4 of the cranberry raspberry mixture onto the circle and I sprinkled 1/4 of the walnuts.  Finally Bret sprinkled two teaspoons of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.  It almost felt like we were making a pizza!

Using a sharp knife, we cut the circle into twelve even wedges and rolled each cookie from the outside of the edge of the circle into a crescent shape.  The rugelach were placed on a parchment paper-lined baking tray.  I brushed the rugelach with melted butter and sprinkled with more cinnamon sugar on each cookie.  We repeated these steps three more times with the three other balls of dough.

The rugelach baked in the oven for twenty minutes at 350 degrees.  Although they weren't as neat as bakery-purchased rugelach, I was still pretty happy with the results.  I let the rugelach cool before I packaged them up for the next day.

On Saturday, we piled the cranberry raspberry rugelach high up on a plate. 

They were a big hit as everyone kept coming back to the plate for just one (or two) more!  The cookie itself was buttery and crumbly while the filling was a combination of tart and sweet.

Thank you Robin for sharing your cranberry raspberry rugelach recipe.  I hope I did them justice!

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