Hot Pepper Jelly Rugelach...how genius is that! from Fine Cooking (not T&T yet)

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Ingredients

For the dough

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 oz. (8 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

11 oz. (2-1/3 cups) all-purpose flour; more as needed

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

For the filling

2 medium jalapeños, stemmed

1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded

1 medium poblano, stemmed

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

To finish

Nonstick cooking spray

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tsp. whole milk

Paprika (optional)

Preparation

Make the dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand-held electric mixer), cream the cream cheese, butter, and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add the flour and salt, and then mix just until a smooth dough forms. Divide into 4 equal disks if making crescent shapes or 4 equal squares if making pillow shapes. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour or up to overnight.

Make the filling

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the peppers with the vinegar until finely chopped, scraping down the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Transfer to a small saucepan, and add the sugar and salt. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture begins to boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until jammy and almost all of the liquid has evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely, and then chill for at least 1 hour.

Fill, shape and bake the rugelach

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment lightly coated with cooking spray.

To shape crescents, remove one dough disk from the refrigerator, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a 9-inch circle. Spread one-fourth of the filling on the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch edge, and then slice into 12 wedges. Roll each wedge into a crescent shape from the outside edge in.

Alternatively, to make pillow shapes, remove one dough square from the refrigerator, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough into an 8-inch square. Spread one-fourth of the filling on the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch edge at the top and bottom. Slice the square in half. Starting at a long end, roll each half into a cylinder from the outside in, and then cut each rolled half into six evenly sized pieces.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and milk. Arrange 12 rugelach on one of the prepared baking sheets. Brush with the egg wash, dust lightly with paprika, if you like, and bake until golden-brown, 16 to 21 minutes. Cool slightly before serving. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Marilyn's Note: I am VERY happy with Stonewall Kitchen's "Red Pepper Jelly." It's perfect in Barbara in VA's cheddar thumbprints, so I won't be making the filling portion of this recipe.

https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/hot-pepper-jelly-rugelach

 
From Traca '07 - Dorie Greenspan's Hot Pepper Jelly Rugelach

Mar, Looking for hot pepper jelly recipes on site, I found this. Bought jalapeños to stuff but now thinking of making Sylvia's cheddar thumbprints but with homemade hot pepper jelly. Interesting addition of parmesan and walnuts along with the jelly as filling! Was wondering about the pepper jam melting and leaking without any "binder." Colleen
https://finerkitchens.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=17348

Dorie Greenspan's Savory Rugelach
(Makes 32 roll-ups; recipe can be doubled)
The cream cheese dough for these savory cookies comes from my recipe for traditional sweet rugelach. It was while I was making these with Michele Norris, host of NPR’s All Things Considered and a very talented cook, that she came up with the idea to use the dough for something savory. It was a brilliant idea, one I’ve thanked her for and one I think you and your cookie exchangers will want to thank her for, too. Here, the roll-ups are filled with hot pepper jelly, Parmesan cheese, and walnuts, but the form lends itself to many variations, so you can make these your own by changing any of the elements. For starters, think about tapenade, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped herbs, roasted red peppers, or anything soft and big-flavored.

Dough
4 ounces cream cheese, cold and cut into 4 pieces
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 4 pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling
1/2 cup hot pepper (or sweet red pepper) jelly
3/4 cup (1½ ounces) coarsely grated Parmesan cheese, very lightly packed
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
Glaze
1 large egg
1 teaspoon cold water

1. To make the dough, leave the cream cheese and the butter on the counter for about 10 minutes, just until they soften slightly. Put the flour and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend. Toss in the cream cheese and butter and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the dough forms large curds—you don’t want to overwork the dough and have it form a ball.
2. Scrape the dough out onto a work surface, cut it in half, and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic film and refrigerate them for at least 2 hours or for as long as overnight.
3. Just before baking, heat the jelly in a microwave oven or in a saucepan until it liquefies; allow to cool a little.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, nonstick aluminum foil, or silicone baking mats. (Even if your sheets are nonstick, line them! The jelly bubbles up around the cookies, so liners make cleanup a cinch.)
5. Working with one packet of dough at a time, put the disk on a lightly floured work surface and flour the top of the dough. Roll the dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. (Don’t worry if the ends are ragged or the circle is uneven.) Brush or spoon half the jelly over the dough, then scatter half the cheese and half the nuts over the top. Cover the filling with a piece of wax paper and lightly press the filling into the dough, remove the paper, and save it to reuse.
6. Using a pizza wheel or a sharp knife, cut the dough into quarters by making a cross in the center of the disk, then cut each quarter into 4 triangles. Starting at the base of each triangle, roll up the dough. Arrange the roll-ups on one of the lined baking sheets, taking care that the pointed ends of the dough are under the roll-ups (you don’t want them opening in the oven). Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. (You can also freeze the roll-ups, pack them airtight, then bake them in the oven without defrosting them.)
7. Repeat with the second disk of dough.
8. Make the glaze by stirring the egg and water together; brush a bit of the mixture over each roll-up.
9. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake the cookies 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until they are golden and puffed. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Storage tips: Well wrapped, the roll-ups will keep for about 4 days at room temperature or for up to 2 months in the freezer. The assembled cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 months and then baked at the last minute—a great timesaver when the holidays are just around the corner.

Nutrients per roll-up: calories 82, protein 2g, carbohydrates 7g, fiber 0g, fat 8g (saturated fat 3g), cholesterol 13mg, sodium 53mg

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/food/recipeguide/Articles/a2004-10-22-rec_art.html/?recno=291&unique_id=d9539921190218473

 
And this looked fun - from Smitten REC: Pull Apart Rugelach

Pull-Apart Rugelach
Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Rugelach fillings are as flexible and creative as you are. Here, we use some jam, cinnamon-sugar, and a mix of chopped nuts, dried fruit and chocolate as the “coarse” mix but you can swap this with 1 cup of whatever you’d prefer. I use an egg wash for shine on top, but if eggs are an issue for you, brushing some cream over the top works too. In regards to the dough, I just want to underline that unlike pie crusts, puffed pastry or croissants, the flakiness here is not something it takes magic and/or advanced skill to create; you don’t need to cut cold butter into flour, envelope, roll, or anything else. No matter how you blend it, the results will be incomparably flaky.

Makes 40 to 48 rugelach

Dough
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1/2 pound (225 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 pound (1 8-ounce or 225-gram package) cream cheese

Filling
2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips or finely chopped bitter- or semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 cup toasted nuts, chopped small (I used walnuts)
1/3 cup dried fruit, chopped small; (I used tiny dried currants, no chopping needed)
1/2 to 3/4 cup jam (I used seedless raspberry, apricot is more traditional)

Finish
1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water or milk
Remaining cinnamon-sugar from above

Make the dough:
In a food processor: Place flour and salt in work bowl fitted with standard blade. Pulse to combine. Add cream cheese, chopped into large chunks, and run machine until it’s fully dispersed into the flour. Add butter in large chunks and run machine until dough starts to clump. Dump out onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form into a flattish disc.

With a mixer: Let butter and cream cheese soften at room temperature. Beat both together until light and fluffy. Beat in salt. Add flour, beating until it disappears. Scrape dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form into a flattish disc.

Both methods: Chill dough until totally firm — about 2 hours in the fridge you can hasten this along in the freezer for about 30 minutes. (Dough keeps in fridge for up to a week, and in freezer much longer.)

Form the pastries:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

Stir cinnamon and sugar together in a small dish. Combine coarse mixture of chocolate, nuts and dried fruit in a second dish.

Divide dough into quarters and roll first quarter out on a floured counter into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 7 to 8 inches long, with the wider side to you. Thinly spread jam to all but the furthest 1/4 inch from you — which seals better once rolled if bare — with about 2 to 3 tablespoons jam. (I find that with seedless raspberry, 2T covers nicely but with thicker jam, you’ll need 3T to coat it thinly. If your jam is difficult to spread, you can warm it gently in the microwave for a few seconds first.) Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar mixture, then 4 tablespoons coarse fruit and nut mixture.

Roll dough from the 12-inch side in front of you into as tight as a log as you can, using your fingers to lightly seal the ends onto the log. Repeat with remaining logs.

Now, choose your final shape:
To make classic, easy sliced cookies: Place log of filled dough in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes; it will cut more cleanly once semi-firm. Trim ends from log so they have a clean shape. Cut log into 10 to 12 even slices. Arrange on prepared baking sheets a couple inches apart from each other.

To make a ring of spirals: Place log of filled dough in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes; it will cut more cleanly once semi-firm. Trim ends from log so they have a clean shape. Cut log into 10 to 12 even slices. Arrange them in a ring formation on prepared baking sheets so that each link touches. Do note: This will be the hardest to lift in one piece from the baking sheet once cool.

To make a pull-apart wreath: Form log into a ring, connecting the ends and smoothing the dough to seal the shape. Place ring in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes; it will cut more cleanly once semi-firm. On prepared baking sheet, cut 10 to 12 evenly spaced apart notches in ring, cutting through all but the last 1/4-inch of log so it stays connected.

To make a pull-apart log: Place log of filled dough in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes; it will cut more cleanly once semi-firm. Trim ends from log so they have a clean shape. On prepared baking sheet, cut 10 to 12 evenly spaced apart notches in log, alternating sides that you cut from, cutting through all but the last 1/4-inch of log so it stays connected.

To make a split log twisted together like a babka: Don’t. It was a flopped-open mess. We couldn’t even eat it. (biggest lie, ever)

For all shapes: Brush top(s) lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a total of 1 teaspoon of the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown on top. Individual cookies need to cool only a few minutes on baking sheet before they can be transferred to a cooling rack but larger rings, wreaths and logs do best if they cool at least 3/4 of the way to solidify more before attempting to carefully transfer them.

Cooled cookies keep in a container at room temperature for a week, and in the freezer for a month. Just not around here.

More do-ahead tips: Your filled log of rugelach is also easy to freeze until needed (I did this with the two I had left). Wrap well, and you can slice it into cookies straight from the freezer, baking them while still frozen — you’ll just new a few extra minutes in the oven.

https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/12/pull-apart-rugelach/

https://smittenkitchendotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/pull-apart-rugelach-e14492472877211.jpg?w=750

 
Barbara had gifted me with a homemade jar of her red pepper jelly and this recipe along with it.

Marilyn's note: Barbara in VA's thread link to the recipe is dead now, but last Christmas I searched on the name and came up with one that seemed very similar. I had just remembered the balls were rolled in chopped pecans before baking and this recipe does that. Made them for a party and folks were grabbing any that were leftover to put in their goodie bag. I used the Stonewall Kitchens Red Pepper Jelly in them. I'll have to compare and see how close this is to Sylvia's. Also, I bake mine without the jelly and without indenting until 5 minutes are left. Then I use the end of a thick wooden spoon, make an indentation, fill with jelly and finish off the last 5 minutes. Always works for me.

INGREDIENTS
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, yellow or white cheddar
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, separated
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups toasted pecans, finely chopped or ground
1/4 cup jalapeño pepper jelly

INSTRUCTIONS
In the bowl of a large food processor, process grated cheddar, butter, Parmesan, and egg yolk until blended. Add flour, cayenne, and salt; pulse until dough forms a ball, scraping down sides as necessary. Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Form into a disc, tightly wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.

Pour finely chopped nuts into a bowl. Place reserved egg white in another bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls (I use a small cookie scoop to help portion it). Dip each ball in beaten egg white and then roll in nuts, gently pressing to coat. Space appetizers 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.

Use your thumb or the tip of a spoon to make an indentation in the top of each dough ball. Use a 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon to carefully fill each indentation with jelly. Bake appetizers for 14 to 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Notes
To toast pecans, spread on a sheet pan and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 7 to 10 minutes or until fragrant and lightly toasted.
I use a food processor (or blender) to grind my pecans into tiny pieces, since it's quicker and easier than chopping nuts finely with a knife.

These appetizers taste their best when they are fresh out of the oven. If you need to make them ahead of time, I recommend preparing the appetizers on your cookie sheets as directed (rolling the dough into balls, coating with nuts, filling with jelly), covering tightly with plastic wrap, and then refrigerating for a day or two until you plan to serve them. Up to a few hours before serving, take the cookie sheets out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake as directed until golden brown and serve on the same day. These are still good after a day or two, but the nuts are not as crunchy so they taste better fresh.

 
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