Back To Holiday Treats - Day 6

So with Christmas around the corner and having requests for more recipes I will try to put in two recipes per post to get them all to you in time. First up is Rugelach and later in the post Almond Bark (sorry no photo). Now I have two recipes and while these are the fig date in the photo I don't think it's the best filling so am going to give you my other filling recipe because it's that yummy.

Please be aware the recipe does call for the dough to be refrigerated overnight. I did but I imagine a good 4-6 hours would work or just 15 min in the freezer. Its soft and more delicate than a pie dough so thus the extra chilling time..when you roll it and cut it, it can tear more easily.

For the Dough

Whisk together in a separate bowl
2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C powder sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together in a mixing bowl
2 sticks (1 C) unsalted softened butter
1 pkg (8 oz) softened cream cheese
Minced zest of 1 lemon

Once mixture is combined add in Flour mixture from above. Shape dough into 3 8oz portions, flatten into disks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

For the Filling
3/4 C toasted hazelnuts
1 C Apricot preserves
2/3 Golden Raisins
1/4 tsp salt

In a food processor Chop the nuts' then add in the preserves, raisins and salt. Puree until smooth. If you don't have a food processor. Chop the nuts finely, mince the raisins and mix with preserves and salt.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper

Roll dough into 12" circles about 1/8" thick. (If it's not perfect don't worry)
Carefully spread filling over the dough leaving a 1/2" - 1" on the sides. Using a Pizza wheel or knife cut the round into 16 wedges; then roll each wedge into a crescent starting at the wide end and rolling to the point. Place crescents, point down on baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart.

Whisk together in a small bowl
1 egg
1 tsp water

Brush each crescent with egg wash and sprinkle with Turbinado (Sugar in the Raw) sugar. Bake crescents 20-30 min or until golden brown.


Almond Bark

This is a simple enough recipe and whatever you do don't let them refrigerate past the time in the recipe because you will discolor the chocolate and melt the salt . My hubby could not stop eating these. I could not find Marcona Almonds so plain unsalted, dry almonds work fine but would recommend giving them a few chops so they are not whole. Just will make for easier eating.

You will need

1/2 C Sugar
2 T water
1 T unsalted butter
1-1/2 C Marcona Almonds (reg almonds will do but make sure they do not contain oil)
1 lb (16 oz) Good quality chocolate (62%-70% cacao), finely chopped
Coarse Sea Salt for sprinkling

Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat (or if your like me and don't own one, aluminum foil) Combine sugar with 2 Tsp water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until caramel is a dark amber about 5 minutes (don't worry if your sugar looks all dry and hard, with will eventually turn to liquid about 2 minutes before it starts to turn amber). Remove from heat, immediately add butter. Whisk until melted. Add almonds stir until well coated. Transfer to baking sheet, spreading out to separate nuts into one layer. Let cool. Break up any large clumps of nuts and set aside 1/4 of nuts for finishing. Stir chocolate in a medium bowl set over a sauce pan of simmering water until melted. Remove from heat, add nuts from baking sheet and stir quickly to combine. Spread chocolate mixture on same baking sheet keeping nuts in a single layer. Top with the reserved nuts and sprinkle with salt. Chill until chocolate is set, about 3 hours.

Break bark into pieces and store between layers of parchment or waxed paper.