Bake Along #50 Nutella Rugelach (Barefoot Contessa)

Rugelach? What's that? That's what I thought when I saw the Bake Along to do list
I googled and I was looking at those little cute croissant-like munchies
Oh it's pastry with filling.. But when I read again.. Oh it's cookies, Jewish cookies
Okay, whatever it is, wherever it's from, it looks real good so I wanted to give it a try

Saw several recipes.. Dorie Greenspan, Ina Garten, Nigella Lawson..
Which one should I try? Think think think...

Then I read... Oh, many mixed reviews about Dorie's recipe.. Perhaps I should just cross this out for my first time trial
Ina's recipe looks good with many rave reviews, so is Nigella's
After much consideration, I finally chose Ina's recipe, since I have had many Nigella's cooking lately :)

I wasn't too pleased with the result. Not the taste, no.. Believe me, this was just delicious and addictive!
I'm talking about the shape. The crescent shape
The dough was soft that more refrigeration required than what stated in the recipe. After 3 hours chilling, I took the dough out and rolled, it took so fast to get the dough to turn soft again, and it's worse after spreading the Nutella
I tried to roll and it's just impossible. So I put the whole round sliced to 12 triangles back to the fridge and kept chilled for about 45 minutes (I reckoned it's still not long enough, perhaps 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours will do just fine)
It helped in making rolling the dough easier but still it turned soft too fast so I had to move quickly hence the not so satisfying end result :P

What you need:
Source HERE
(below is half recipe)

Pastry:
114g cream cheese at room temperature 

114g unsalted butter at room temperature

1/8 cup granulated sugar

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract 

1 cup all-purpose flour (I used cake flour, inspired by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids)

For the filling, I chose the easy way out, the surely loved Nutella :)

Original filling recipe:
1/8 cup light brown sugar, packed 
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped

1/4 cup apricot preserves, puréed in a food processor

For sprinkle:
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 small egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Method:

1. Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in half, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour (I did for 3 hours)
2. On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread Nutella over it. Press Nutella lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges—cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds (At this point, I found the dough was too soft to roll, I was struggling to do the rolling, so I refrigerated the whole round for another 45 minutes - yes, blame it to Singapore hot humid weather! Note: In the future I will chill longer, perhaps 1 hour 30 minutes, cos even after 45 minutes chilling, even though better but I still found it's not in perfect texture to roll)
3. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes
4. Preheat the oven to 175degC
5. Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies (I didn't do this) 
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool

I must say this was one delicious cookies. With Nutella as the filling, it's really difficult to resist them, including the kids, too :)

It was pretty late when I finished baking the first half, so I kept the other disc in the chiller
I plan to use the original filling this time, perhaps tomorrow, we'll see :)
Hopefully I will have more luck in making better crescent shape hahaha...

This post is  for Bake Along , a baking event organised by  Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

 

Last but not least, announcement!

The giveaways for my 3rd year blog anniversary has officially ended

Stay tune for the result tomorrow :)