Prune and Chocolate Rugelach

I messed up.  I was in a hurry, doing 3 things at once, and I mixed the ingredients wrong.  Instead of measuring out the required portion of the fudge sauce, I dumped the whole lot in, which was about a cup.  I wondered why there was so much filling!  Obviously these would have been much tangier and less chocolaty had I done it properly.  You would have gotten more of the rich pastry relative to the filling, and I might have been able to squeeze in more chocolate nibs if I'd had less filling (though I'm not so sure that would have been a good idea.)

For starters, I'd say the original recipe was sloppy.  Who are these people on paid sites would are such poor recipe writers???  Anyway, I made only half the recipe, and I changed the shape.  Rugelach, in my experience, are not sliced logs -- they're rolled crescents.  So that's what I made.  The instructions also called to mix cold butter and cold cream cheese into a chunky mass.  I didn't see why I would want chunks of either in the dough.  All other recipes I looked at called for both to be soft so they would mix together homogeneously, so that's what I did.  Another change I would make for a future version would be to macerate the fruit overnight in the booze, or just leave the booze out entirely and use water.  It wasn't noticeable.  (You certainly don't need Slivovitz.)  I've written the recipe here as it should be, not as I did it.

Here's what I used, with my changes in strikeout and italics (yield 2 dozen cookies):

For the fudge sauce (makes about 1 cup):
3 ounces (3/8 cup) water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the dough, prune jam, and assembly:
1 cup prunes
1/8 cup Slivovitz [Food 52's note: We substituted brandy]
1 stick butter, cut in chunks and kept cold room temperature 
4.5 ounces cream cheese, cut in chunks and kept cold room temperature
Generous pinch kosher fine salt
1 3/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/6 cup water
1/6 cup fudge sauce (from above)
4 ounces cocoa nibs (or less) or chopped nuts
Melted, cooled butter, for coating cookies
Granulated sugar, for coating rolling cookies

The night before, place the prunes in a small bowl and pour over the Slivovitz, brandy, or whatever liquid you are using.  Mix to coat, cover, and leave to plump.  

In a small pot, bring water, sugar, and heavy cream to a boil. Reduce to simmer and whisk in cocoa powder. Simmer on low until sauce has a fudge consistency, which may take 10 to 20 minutes. (Mine got thick quickly and I had to add quite a bit of water to thin it out to a fudge sauce consistency.) 

For the dough, combine butter and cream cheese in stand mixer. In a separate bowl, sift salt and flour. Add to the butter and cream cheese mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Divide dough into two equal rounds, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour. Meanwhile, in a small pot, combine the macerated prunes and water. Bring to a boil, then cook on low heat for several minutes, stirring often, until prunes are soft. Place in food processor and blend until paste-like. Add the chocolate fudge sauce and combine. 

Preheat the oven to 350° F. On a sugared surface, roll out one chilled dough round into a 9-10" circle about 1/8-inch thick. Spread half of the chocolate-prune jam over it, then sprinkle with half the cocoa nibs (or your desired amount). Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges.  Roll up each wedge, starting from the wide end, making sure the sugar is coating the pastry.  Place on a greased sheet tray, tip down, about 2 inches apart. Repeat with the second dough round. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.  (Watch that the bottoms don't get too dark.)  Remove cookies from the baking sheet promptly and cool on a wire rack.

I rolled these out on granulated sugar so I didn't have to fuss with brushing them with melted butter and dipping in sugar after they were rolled.  It worked fine, but the sugar browned a lot on the bottom.  It could easily burn.  Using an insulated cookie sheet would prevent that problem.

On an aside, for some reason my chocolate nibs, bought specially for this recipe from a bulk supplier, tasted of banana, and this was detectable in the cookies.  It didn't "go" with the other flavors.  I love the texture of the nibs, but I'll reserve the remainder of this purchase for something more banana friendly.  Nuts would work fine here.

Conclusion:  These needed something. Or maybe less of something.  I'm not sure if less filling would make the difference needed, or if mixing it to the proper ratio would help, or if they just needed a little more salt.  As rugelach go, I've had better.  The filling was tasty, just seemed a little flat.  The prunes could be changed out with another tart fruit, such as apricots or tart cherries.  I think they would also benefit from some lemon zest.  But it's unfair to judge when I didn't make it right.

Recipe:  Prune and Chocolate Rugelach via Food 52.

Mushroom, Spinach, and Rosemary Crostada

I was looking for a hearty appetizer to bring to a friend's Christmas cookie party.  I wanted it to be somewhat healthy, since no doubt we'd be filling up on cookies and mulled wine.

This crostata took some preparation time, about an hour, but was otherwise very easy.  I was disappointed to not come home with any leftovers. The pie crust I used was slightly more than half whole wheat, made with butter.  I also added the cayenne.

Here's what I used:

dough for a single-crust pie, chilled for about an hour

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 medium onion, minced

4 cups sliced mushrooms

1 box frozen spinach (10 oz), thawed, drained, squeezed dry in a towel, and chopped

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

freshly-ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup dry French vermouth (see note)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

Heat butter and oil in a skillet set over a medium-high flame. After the butter melts and foam subsides, add the onions, mushrooms, spinach and rosemary. Season with salt,  pepper, and cayenne. Cover the pan and cook until the onions and mushrooms are soft — about 2 minutes. Then uncover, and toss the ingredients about with a spoon or spatula until the mushrooms have rendered their juices — about 5 minutes. Add the vermouth; stir. When the vermouth has boiled away, remove the pan from the heat. In a medium bowl, add the two cheeses and the rosemary and stir to combine.

Roll the dough into a 12-inch diameter circle, then place onto a buttered, rimless baking sheet. Spread the cheese mixture on the dough, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Spoon the mushroom mixture atop the cheese, then fold the 2-inch border of dough over the filling, making pleats every 2 inches or so. Gently pinch the pleats to seal.  Bake the tart on the lower-middle shelf at 400 degrees until the pastry browns, about 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then slide the tart onto a platter or wooden board. Dust with freshly-grated Parmesan. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Note:  I couldn't taste the vermouth.  Now granted, I didn't use the fancy French vermouth... I used a cheapo $3.99 bottle of Italian vermouth I got at Trader Joe's that had very little flavor (while packing an 18% alcoholic punch).  The next time I made it, I was liberal with the vermouth, and it still didn't make any difference.  So I say use whatever you've got:  vermouth, dry sherry, white wine, broth... maybe even beer!  Water in a pinch.

Conclusion:  This was delicious and very easy to put together.  I made it again immediately for myself.  I would, however, err on the side of less rosemary, as it was somewhat strong.  The added cayenne gave just a hint of heat.  Lemon zest might also be a nice addition to brighten the flavors.  Don't skimp on the cheese.

Original recipe:  Mushroom, Spinach & Rosemary Tart via A Garden for the House

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

This turned out to be a great little cookie.  I was pleased that it wasn't a hard gingersnap, as gingerbread made with butter tends to be.  But I would definitely decorate them with something else next time, as the sugar pearls were just way too sweet for my taste.  They tasted iced.

Since our brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added back into it, I never see the point of using brown sugar (which is more expensive) when molasses is already in the recipe, so I changed that out.  Otherwise, I prepared the recipe as written.

Here's what I used (yield 36 cookies):

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark brown white sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini chips
5 tablespoons Swedish pearl sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease lightly.  Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and cocoa.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and creamy.  Add the molasses and beat until combined.  Beat in the dry ingredients, then stir in the chips.  Scoop the dough a tablespoon at a time; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll the top portion of each dough ball in pearl sugar.  Place the unbaked cookies 1½" apart, sugar side up, onto the prepared baking sheets.  Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until their surface begins to crack. (I baked them for only 10.  They were still VERY soft and puffed, and just beginning to crack.)  Remove from the oven, cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Conclusion:  These were good, easy -- something I would make again, but with a different topping.  (Either that or eliminate the ½ cup of sugar in the recipe.)  Perhaps real chocolate or colored jimmies, or LIGHTLY dusted powdered sugar.  I didn't notice the chocolate chips much -- chocolate lovers will want to use more chips.  These were never crunchy, and after a few days they mellowed to a tough-chewy.  Very nice.

Recipe:  Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies via King Arthur Flour