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Rugelach and Apricot Kolacky

My wife and I differ in one main way during the holiday season.  She goes for quantity and I go for quality.  When it comes to our cookie tray that is!  She will spend hours making a dozen different kinds of tasty morsels that now fill the freezer in a half-dozen tins.  (I’m just upset because I had to quickly consume the Trader Joe’s tamales to make room.)  I must admit (but don’t tell her) that I like the variety.

For me, I spend my hours trying to perfect one type of cookie made from cream cheese dough called Rugelach (pronounced with a hard “ch” coming from the Jewish language  (think also Challah bread or Chanukah) ).  This recipe was taught to us from our good friend Barbara Bailey.  My wife had trouble handling the tricky dough so I gave it a try.  Now you have to understand that the baking in our household is usually reserved for my wife.  So it was with trepidation that I crossed the line and to this day haven’t gone back.   Otherwise I risk going without one of my favorite cookies.  Then again I can always count on Barbara for a few each year.

This year though, I caught glimpse of another recipe using the same kind of cream cheese dough, that won the Chicago Tribune cookie contest.  It was for a cookie called the Kolacky (Kolacki, Kolache or Kolach).  I thought I would give it a try and now I guess I will have to spend extra hours every holiday making both as this cookie has also become one of my favorite.

I had tried to add preserves and chocolate to the Rugalach dough but the crescent shape made it difficult.  This is probably why you see this cookie rolled into a log and then cut in many Jewish bakeries.  The shape of the Kolacky forms a sort of pouch, making it perfect for holding some kind of tasty preserve.  My step-mom has offered to give me some figs from her tree this year and maybe I’ll try it with fig preserve or just lay some sliced figs inside.

The other advantage is that the holiday season is a good time to purchase cream cheese as the prices normally drop and you can usually find a few coupons.  When making these cookies, it is one time I stay with the tried and true Philadelphia cream cheese.  And not the ‘light’ stuff!  The other main ingredients are butter and flour so don’t scrimp on the quality there either.

One year I tried to make it with European style Plugra butter.  I was surprised when it didn’t turn out that well.  I came to the conclusion though that it was because I used unsalted butter instead of salted.   In fact, I’ve been told that some recipes specifically call for unsalted butter but from what I can tell, they don’t turn out as well.  And boy do I get frustrated when I see recipes that don’t specify what kind of butter to use.

The other tricky part of this cookie is the handling of the dough.  It needs to stay cold.  My wife’s hands run warm so I think this is why she has problems.  Keeping it cold and quickly working the dough before it warms up to room temperature are the key parts to making this cookie.  If you can master this aspect, the rest is a breeze.

In the recipe section (see Rugelach Recipe), I will give some tips I’ve learned on how to handle these cookies in case you want to try them yourselves.  Just be prepared that they are both very addicting.

Price Guide – Phildelphia Cream Cheese (8 oz.)

Smart Buy - Less than $1.75 each

Average Price – $2.15 each

High Price – Greater than $2.50 each

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Filed under: Dairy, Recipes