TWD: Rugelach

Mom and Dad, before Dad's passing.

Today is Tuesday  which means another installment of Tuesday's with Dorie: Baking with Julia.  Our TWD:BWJ recipe for today is Rugelach (roo-ga-lah).   Rugelach is an eastern-european Jewish pastry and I've been looking forward to making it for the past several weeks.  Without this challenge, I would have never attempted this recipe which would have been a shame.


You see, I'm polish and as I spent the morning making this little treat I thought about my ancestors - especially my Grandmother, Josephine Solinski Brodowski.  I called her Nana.  She spent many years working in a bakery and I'm sure Rugelach was one of the treats she made. 

I could also feel the presence of my dad, Richard Brodowski - I think he is smiling down on me today :)

My own results were delicious - and they came out looking just like the picture in the cookbook!  Happy day.

P

I changed things up a little bit by making a date levkar (like a fruit butter). I used 2 cups of dates, 1 cup water and 1 Tblsp. lemon juice - no sugar needed. Oh wow! Super good.

For the Rugelach, I used the date levkar, white chocolate chips and blanched toasted almonds.   The combination was heaven.  Pure heaven.  

While I was photographing the results, one of the teens in our neighborhood stopped by and tried a sample, or two, or three. 

Our hosts for today are Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker.  You can also check out results from our group at TWD: Baking with Julia.

What a fun adventure this is turning out to be.