Photo by Vicki
Baking with Granny
Ah, rugelach. The name is exotic, but the flavors so familiar and comforting. Who wouldn't look forward to an afternoon cup of coffee or tea with a tender, fruit-filled rugelach (fruit and filling of your choice, of course)? I think everyone who baked these cookies was quite taken with them, although many of us also had some kind of problem.
Case in point: Vicki said that while they were baking, "I can't even tell you how wonderful the house smells." They were "so tasty," and she had no difficulty working with the dough or rolling them up. What happened? "I forgot to set the buzzer for the final 10 minutes of the last tray." And the last tray was burned to a crisp--not just dark, not even just charred, but fully, completely burned. Vicki was thorough enough to include a photo of the inedible cookies as an object lesson--don't forget to use the timer! But I chose the picture of the cookies that came out of the oven at just the right time.
Catherine made both rugelach and schnecken, partly just for the pleasure of saying "schnecken," and partly because she thought "the shape might come out better." She claims her rugelach generally "look like they've been dragged behind a truck." You know how Catherine may occasionally exaggerate a wee bit, so I wasn't sure about the "dragged behind a truck" part, but she did include a photo of what she called a crab-elach. It's very cute but let's just say it's not going to win any food shot contests. Catherine says her schnecken looked somewhat "more respectable."
Oh, how I felt for Aimee. Not that she needed my sympathy--after all, she described these cookies as "crunchy, sweet, buttery, nutty, sticky. Spirals of goodness that call out for a doubled recipe." Sounds great, right? And then I saw that she baked them on foil, which has suddenly become my nemesis. But she's not complaining, I said to myself--she must have had better luck with foil than I did. Well, not so much--"Sticky jelly on foil = super glue." That was her equation. Aimee is just less of a complainer than I am. "I did manage to get most of the cookies off the foil. I had a lot of bakers treats from them, that's for sure." Definitely a glass-half-full kind of person.
Although I said that most bakers had some kind of problem with these, Rachel proved me wrong. She knows her family well enough to avoid raisins, so she made the chocolate-raspberry variation. "I usually avoid filled cookies because I feel like the effort/reward ratio is too high, and also because cookie filling tends to the adolescent-unfriendly. But these were surprisingly simple to put together, and anything with chocolate in it disappears in my house. Definitely a repeatable endeavor!"
The worst problem that Jen had was that some of her cookies were just a tad underdone, which is really not much of a problem. Does this sound like the writing of a person who's aggravated with the recipe? "These are as simple as they are delicious and I think we'll be making these again and again. Eliot dubbed these 'piecookies' which is fairly apt. They are a bit like pastry with a yummy fruit/nut/jam filling. However, don't let pastry fool you; these really are much simpler and less stressful to make to make than pastry." No it does not. And they look gorgeous, too.
And now I realize that the whole theme of this roundup--that we all had some little difficulty with the rugelach--is totally false and was made up by me in an effort to form the Sisterhood of the Ruined Rugelach. Guys, I truly am happy for all of you; I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself. We'll finish up with Jenn, whose rugelach pictures look beautiful, as do her pictures of crab apple blossoms covered with snow--an emblem of this weird spring/summer/winter we've been having. Not only did Jenn prove me completely wrong on the notion that everyone messed up their rugelach, she also proved me wrong in my statement a few weeks ago that nobody really likes raisins. On the contrary, she says, "I get pretty excited when I see recipes containing raisins. I love raisins. I would happily order, eat, cook, anything with raisins in it, sweet or savory."
Fortunately, I've already made the crumpets, and they turned out beautifully, so I won't be trying to form the Sisterhood of the Crummy Crumpet. I will rejoice at your success and your eating pleasure. Do try these crumpets!
Case in point: Vicki said that while they were baking, "I can't even tell you how wonderful the house smells." They were "so tasty," and she had no difficulty working with the dough or rolling them up. What happened? "I forgot to set the buzzer for the final 10 minutes of the last tray." And the last tray was burned to a crisp--not just dark, not even just charred, but fully, completely burned. Vicki was thorough enough to include a photo of the inedible cookies as an object lesson--don't forget to use the timer! But I chose the picture of the cookies that came out of the oven at just the right time.
Catherine made both rugelach and schnecken, partly just for the pleasure of saying "schnecken," and partly because she thought "the shape might come out better." She claims her rugelach generally "look like they've been dragged behind a truck." You know how Catherine may occasionally exaggerate a wee bit, so I wasn't sure about the "dragged behind a truck" part, but she did include a photo of what she called a crab-elach. It's very cute but let's just say it's not going to win any food shot contests. Catherine says her schnecken looked somewhat "more respectable."
Oh, how I felt for Aimee. Not that she needed my sympathy--after all, she described these cookies as "crunchy, sweet, buttery, nutty, sticky. Spirals of goodness that call out for a doubled recipe." Sounds great, right? And then I saw that she baked them on foil, which has suddenly become my nemesis. But she's not complaining, I said to myself--she must have had better luck with foil than I did. Well, not so much--"Sticky jelly on foil = super glue." That was her equation. Aimee is just less of a complainer than I am. "I did manage to get most of the cookies off the foil. I had a lot of bakers treats from them, that's for sure." Definitely a glass-half-full kind of person.
Although I said that most bakers had some kind of problem with these, Rachel proved me wrong. She knows her family well enough to avoid raisins, so she made the chocolate-raspberry variation. "I usually avoid filled cookies because I feel like the effort/reward ratio is too high, and also because cookie filling tends to the adolescent-unfriendly. But these were surprisingly simple to put together, and anything with chocolate in it disappears in my house. Definitely a repeatable endeavor!"
The worst problem that Jen had was that some of her cookies were just a tad underdone, which is really not much of a problem. Does this sound like the writing of a person who's aggravated with the recipe? "These are as simple as they are delicious and I think we'll be making these again and again. Eliot dubbed these 'piecookies' which is fairly apt. They are a bit like pastry with a yummy fruit/nut/jam filling. However, don't let pastry fool you; these really are much simpler and less stressful to make to make than pastry." No it does not. And they look gorgeous, too.
And now I realize that the whole theme of this roundup--that we all had some little difficulty with the rugelach--is totally false and was made up by me in an effort to form the Sisterhood of the Ruined Rugelach. Guys, I truly am happy for all of you; I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself. We'll finish up with Jenn, whose rugelach pictures look beautiful, as do her pictures of crab apple blossoms covered with snow--an emblem of this weird spring/summer/winter we've been having. Not only did Jenn prove me completely wrong on the notion that everyone messed up their rugelach, she also proved me wrong in my statement a few weeks ago that nobody really likes raisins. On the contrary, she says, "I get pretty excited when I see recipes containing raisins. I love raisins. I would happily order, eat, cook, anything with raisins in it, sweet or savory."
Fortunately, I've already made the crumpets, and they turned out beautifully, so I won't be trying to form the Sisterhood of the Crummy Crumpet. I will rejoice at your success and your eating pleasure. Do try these crumpets!
"Sisterhood of the Ruined Rugelach" omg I'm howling! Just got home from the Catholic supply store for my high school party (we have a warped sense of humor for decorations. Think Trouble with Angels and that was us) with holy cards. There should be a Patron Saint of Ruined Rugelach! Thank you for posting my picture. Everyone else's Rugelachs looked so pretty. I'm curious about one thing, would that non stick foil make a difference?
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