rugelach like woah

I took seventy pictures of this week's baking project.

Alright, fine, that's an exaggeration.  I only took sixty-eight.

Because of this, I think I'll just give you the recipe and let the pictures do the rest of the talking, except to say that I've been taking a break from biscotti and eating these for breakfast this week.  And honestly?  They kind of taste more like pop tarts than the pop tarts did.

Raspberry and Apricot Rugelach (pronounced "Roo-guh-luh," I have been told)
(via allrecipes.com and The Great Cookie Book)

Cookie:
1 package cream cheese (8 oz) (I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
2 cups flour

Filling:
1/4 cup brown sugar
9 T sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup raspberry and/or apricot preserves (The recipe says to blend them in a food processor, which I did not do, and it was fine.)

1 egg and 1 T milk beaten for an egg wash

Bake at 350

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese together, then add the sugar, salt, and vanilla.
2. Add the flour slowly.
3. Roll the dough into a ball, then cut it into fourths and chill for a couple hours. (The dough should chill, I mean. You can chill, too, if you want.)

4. Mix the brown sugar, 6 T sugar, 1/2 t cinnamon, walnuts, and raisins for the filling. (We'll use the rest of the cinnamon and sugar later.)

5. Roll each fourth of the dough into a circle (recipe says 9 inches in diameter...I say until the dough seems the right thickness).

6. Spread the preserves on the circle, then sprinkle it with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling into the dough so it sticks.

7. The really fun part: Cut the circle into 12 equal pieces.  

I'd like to take this time to say that the cookbook gave me very specific directions on this: First cut the circle into fourths, and then cut each fourth into thirds.  Four times three is twelve.

8. Roll each slice starting from the outside edge.  Here is a step-by-step visual guide:

(You may note these are a different color than the picture above - I did two circles of dough with raspberry preserves, and two with apricot. This is the apricot.)

9. After you've done this with all four dough balls, place the rugelach on a baking sheet with the points tucked under and chill for 30 more minutes.

While you're just chilling, here's a whole lot of pictures of how pretty they look all rolled up and set in rows:

10. And finally, mix up the remaining cinnamon and sugar (1 t cinnamon, 3 T sugar).  Brush the cookies with the egg wash and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
11. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Some post-sprinkling pictures - or as my filenames say, sparkly rugelach:

The finished product