Rugelach Two Ways: Chocolate and Fig-Walnut

If I ask you to name the top five desserts you've ever had,

can you?

Rugelach from Machne Yehuda Market in Jerusalem 

is definitely on my "top five" list.

In case you're not familiar with it, rugelach is a Yiddish word,

 which, loosely translated, means "little twists."

Finding the best rugelach in the world 
has become something of a competitive family pursuit...
with each of us claiming at one time or another
to have found the winner. 
I like to think of it as our version of the Hunger Games. 

  It wasn't until we were in Jerusalem,
that we finally could name the victor.
It was the Best Rugelach We Ever Had. 

Our tour guide dropped us off at Machne Yehuda Market 
on a Friday afternoon.
Because it was right before Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath),
it was wall-to-wall people...
 like being in Times Square on New Year's Eve.

  We were hungry.
We were tired.
We were cranky.

We couldn't find a place to have lunch.
When we saw a stall selling baked goods, 
we stopped and got some rugelach.
It had just come out of the oven, 
and oh, my, my, my...
It was like manna from heaven. 



I don't know that anything can top those,
but my mother's recipe is pret-ty, pret-ty good.
I vividly remember the day that she went to 
her friend's house to learn how to make rugelach.
After that, they became a regular part of her baking repertoire. 

Yeah, she spelled it differently,
and no, I wouldn't use margarine. EVER.

My mother's recipe

She'd freeze them to have on hand...
"In case someone should stop by."
My sister and I would sneak into the 
tupperware containers,
and eat them right out of the freezer.
When my mother went to get them...
Surprise!
She'd find the containers almost empty.

My mother always used raspberry jam as a filling. 
I decided to try it with fig jam, and it was AMAZING!
(I used my favorite, Bon Maman).

I will only use fig jam from now on. 

Unless, of course, I want chocolate.

Or both.

Since the recipe makes 64 pieces,
I like to make two flavors, for variety. 
So, half chocolate, half fig-walnut. 

Some notes:

• The dough must be refrigerated overnight, and cold when you work with it. 
• Keep each section in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Your hands and work surface must be well-floured, as the dough is sticky.   
• The measurements in my recipe, below, assume you are making half jam, and half chocolate.    
•  Melt the chips just before spreading on the dough. I did not use nuts in the chocolate rugelach. 
• It is important to bake the rugelach with the point-side down, so that they don't un-fold while they're baking. 

Rugelach Two Ways: Fig-Walnut, and Chocolate

For the dough:

2 cups flour

1/2 pound butter

1 egg yolk

3/4 cup sour cream

For the filling:

3/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup fig jam (amount is approximate, for 1/2 recipe)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted (amount is approximate, for 1/2 recipe)
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (amount is approximate, for 1/2 recipe)

Mix flour and butter.
Add egg yolk and sour cream.
Mix until well-combined.
Refrigerate over night. 

The next day, divide dough into four balls. Work with one at a time, keeping the others refrigerated until ready to use. Two sections will be used for fig jam and walnuts rugelach; two sections will be used for chocolate rugelach.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Flour hands and rolling pin before working with dough. Re-flour, as necessary, since the dough is sticky.

Flatten the dough into a disc.

On a well-floured work surface, roll dough into circle, approximately 9-10 inches in diamater.

Gently place plate over dough, and use a knife to cut dough into perfect circle.

Using a knife or icing spatula, carefully loosen the dough from the work surface.

Mix sugar and cinnamon together.

Spread two circles of dough with a thin layer of jam. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture, and walnuts over jam.
 
Spread two circles of dough with melted chocolate, which should be a more generous layer. (I did not use nuts for the chocolate rugelach). 

Using a pizza cutter, cut each circle into 16 wedges. 

Roll rugelach carefully starting at the widest part. 

Put on parchment-lined baking sheets, with the point-side down.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, but time is approximate, as all ovens are different. 

The rugelach will remain pale, but bottoms will be golden brown. 

Let cool. Can be stored in ziploc or plastic container, and frozen. 

I've stashed my rugelach away in the freezer

to serve on Yom Kippur after breaking the fast...

Unless, of course, someone eats them 
right out of the freezer,

between now and then. 

It could happen.

 

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