Rugelach Popped Into My Mind One Day

I was thinking about visiting relatives in LA the other day. part of my in-law family are Jewish.  I was introduced to a number of new delights during these visits.  Some are Greek home cooking dishes that I have a few recipe cards for and plan to make soon.  One treat I really enjoyed were Rugelach. 

Rugelach are delightful little treats that look like mini crescent rolls. Crescent rolls are delightful in their own, how could mini one in dessert for not be great?  The Rugelach I've had have been mostly chocolate or chocolate with a fruit jam or preserve. They often have coarse sugar crystals sprinkled on them.

As I thought fondly of the Rugelach, I thought I should try to make a batch. They look a bit daunting but after researching some recipes online, they seemed doable. After all, I'm Chauncey The Baker. I don't know I can't make things.

In my search for recipe ideas, and there are plenty, I narrowed it down  to a couple that seemed to fit my target: Easy and Chocolate. I wasn't thrilled with either recipe as they did something a little different or had different ingredient choices. So, I took parts from each I liked and set out to make my first batch.

I made both chocolate and one tray using a home back Quince jam over the chocolate. These came out delightful!

The dough is pretty simple. I chose to use a process that takes less than a  minute in the food processor.  Once the dough is processed, I packed it together and made four dough disks per the recipe guidelines. I wrapped each in plastic wrap and chilled in the fridge for an hour.

When I was ready to roll out the disks, I removed them from the fridge and flowered my cutting board, rolling pin and quite a bit of myself. I do not admit to the flower hand prints on a certain someone's backside.

Next, I melted two different chocolate chips. Both are dark. One had 60% cocao content and the other had 53%. I placed the bowl of chocolate in the preheated oven to melt removing every few minutes to stir.

So, now I rolled out the dough. It was around 8-10 inches. It is fine to leave them a little rough around the edges. They will be rolled up.

Now I added the chocolate leaving an inch or so around the edges.  I found I needed to work fast since the dough was a little sticky if I took too long. Some were different sizes and shapes.

Next, I took a pizza slicer and cut them into 8 pieces. I found cutting faster was better for me. I placed them on a cookie sheet and put the first (of four) batches in the freezer for 10 minutes. Since they take 20 minutes to bake, I placed the subsequent batches in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Before baking, I whipped an egg and brushed each Rugelach with a little egg wash. Then off to the oven for around 20 minutes. Since I can't see the color "golden brown" I needed help for the local indigent population for help. Cost me Rugelach but it was worth it!

Once they were ready, I gave them some time to cool and then shared them with the tribe before taking the rest to work, sparing the tribe from obesity and diabetes.