Aylenish Rugelach With Orange Walnuts And Cinnamon Recipes

AYLENISH RUGELACH WITH ORANGE, WALNUTS AND CINNAMON

Steps:

• Soak raisins in rum and 1/2 cup very hot water. In a medium bowl, combine both sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts and a pinch of salt. Drain raisins (discard soaking liquid) and mix them into sugar mixture. In a saucepan, melt marmalade until runny. Remove any large chunks orange peel.
• Cut about a 4-ounce piece of puff pastry and roll out on a floured board into a rectangle, about 17 inches by 7 1/2 inches. The pastry should be thin and supple enough to drape, but not so thin that holes start to appear when rolling.
• Brush a 2 1/2-inch-wide stripe of marmalade down the long center of the rectangle. Sprinkle marmalade with filling and fold top edge down over filling. Brush the top of filled section with marmalade and sprinkle marmalade with filling. Fold bottom edge up over the filling to make a kind of flattened roll; do not press. Cut in half crosswise and refrigerate rolls for 20 to 30 minutes, or freeze for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees; use the convection setting if you have it. Cut rolls across into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Place slices, seam side down, on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or nonstick liners. Brush tops with egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and puffed. Let cool slightly before removing to a cooling rack. Meanwhile, repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Store at room temperature in layers separated by parchment paper, in airtight containers.

ORANGE WALNUT RUGELACH

Steps:

• To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar and kosher salt in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Add the cubed butter, distributing it all over the top of the dry ingredients, and dollop in the cream cheese (1-inch dollops should do it, but it doesn't need to be perfect). Turn the mixer on low and stir until the mixture is mostly mealy and there are still some larger clumps of butter and cream cheese intact. Continue mixing and add the yolks, vanilla and almond extract if using. Continue mixing until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in half and shape into discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
• Mix the marmalade, cinnamon and cloves in a small bowl and set aside.
• To form the rugelach, working with one dough disc at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface, dusting with flour as needed to prevent it from sticking, until it is a wide rectangle, 18-by-9-inches. Use an offset spatula to spread on half of the marmalade in a thin even layer, leaving a 1-inch border along the long edge that's furthest from you. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of the walnuts. Brush the 1-inch border with a thin layer of egg wash and then start on the end closest to you and roll the dough into a long tight log, placing it seam-side down. Transfer to a cutting board or baking sheet and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 days (depending on fridge space, you might want to cut the log in half so you're dealing with 4 shorter logs as opposed to 2 really long ones). If you're only refrigerating for an hour or 2, no need to cover the logs. If longer than that, cover with plastic wrap.
• To bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Brush the logs with a thin layer of egg wash, sprinkle with a few pinches of flaky salt, the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts and the colorful sugar or sprinkles if using. Cut into 1 1/2-inch slices and transfer to the baking sheets, 1-inch apart. Bake until golden brown on top; begin checking for doneness at 24 minutes. (You might notice that the cookies seem to sweat and leak out some fat while in the oven, this is completely normal.) Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Or enjoy them warm! Leftovers can be stored at room temp for several days.