Passover Rugelach

I don't often make Jewish treats since when Joe and I celebrate Jewish holidays, we usually go to one of his family member's house who keep Kosher. Joe doesn't keep Kosher, quite the opposite in fact: one of his favorite things is bacon. So I've made challah and such but pout because I can't impress Joe's kosher family with my gentile baking skillz.

Since passover rolled around, I decided I wanted to make something from the Jewish tradition, even if I couldn't take it to a Seder. I decided to make rugelach. I don't know if rugelach can be eaten on Passover but um, I don't care because I can eat rugelach whenever I want. I used a recipe from The Sweet Life that I've been eyeing for awhile but looking at other rugelach recipes, it's not too different from standard rugelach recipes.



I stuck with what the recipe said and filled the cookies with cinnamon, walnuts and currants but I think I would have liked them better filled with some sort of jam-y filling. But that's just me, I tend to prefer fruit fillings over nutty fillings.

I haven't eaten much rugelach so I can't say how traditional these are but I was happy how these turned out. Joe said the rugelach he's had in the past is often dry but these were nice and soft. Not exactly moist but you don't really want a moist cookie, do you? I'd rather not feel like I'm eating a small, disc-shaped sponge.



Like I said, the recipe seems pretty spot on to ones that I've seen on the internet so I won't post it: it's just a cream cheese based dough filled with a fruit and nut mix. I also am a proud owner of the Joe 3000 pasta maker model so it was fine to roll it. It was a bit delicate but more forgiving than pie crust.

By the way, I was totally unprepared for an Orthodox Seder. I've only ever been to reform Seders, where we kind of haphazardly dipped some bitter herbs in some salt water and called it a night. So when I got to Joe's families house and they cheerfully asked me if I had taken a nap I was like huh? And then I found out that it is not uncommon for their family to hold 8 or 9 hour Seders. We some how whizzed through it in a mere 4 hours though! A passover miracle. We went the second night as well but only for a little over an hour, Joe was so exhausted that he would've passed out in a bowl of matzoh ball soup.

Next up: Easter dessert. Because I don't shun any holiday in which it acceptable to bake.