Rugelach oh how I love you!

First, I just want to keep it real. Sometimes our little blog may make it appear like we have it together differently than we really do. I mean, we aren't Martha Stewart. I was helping with a PTSO lunchoen today and had promised to make pies and these rugelach for the lunchoen. True to form, my 3 year old was sick all week. Last week my 7 year old was sick. Someone in the house has been sick for the last 6 weeks. I'm not kidding. So I had yesterday set aside to bake for the luncheon. I took more breaks than maybe I should have. I had a PTSO meeting I attended yesterday after my son's school got out. I baked through the night until 3 this morning. While I was at it, I figured why not make extra pies for us and a few reserves in the freezer for later. That is what you all do too, right? My day was carefully planned out almost to the minute. It took some creativity to get it all mapped out and lined up. I dropped off my 2nd grader and ran to Rebecca's house. Our sons go to preschool together. My little one has missed two weeks of preschool. today he was going to go back! At Rebeccas house, my son threw up! It was just lovely. Not only did I gross out my sister, my whole day was off. I'm so lucky I have my mom and two other sisters nearby. I was able to drop off the sick one with Erika and took in 3 French Pear Tarts, 2 Caramel Pumpkin pies (both of which looked like poop, but tasted wonderful) and a plate of Rugelach. I stained my one dressy shirt with grease because all my treats are packed with butter. I did save one of each pies for us too. I have to run everything by my taste-tester husband before I serve it up for anyone else. Thanks honey for sacrificing for me;) I missed helping out AT the luncheon and cleaning up. sigh. Just so you know that we have normal lives too.

Now on to my post...

Really I should be singing the praises to Dorie Greenspan. I adore her so. She is a skinny baker and I don’t normally think you should trust a skinny…well anything really;) I mean Mario Batali I trust his recipes because you can tell that man likes to eat what he makes. And who doesn’t love a man with neon crocs? But Dorie Greenspan is skinny and she bakes and she writes recipes in books.

Let me just tell you…trust her recipes. Trust them. They are almost no fail. And they are to die for. I’m not talking about your marshmallow puff, and processed boxed mix treats that every housewife around knows how to bake either. I’m talking about a real baker with real ingredients and real steps and real yummy treats.

I was participating in an online baking group Tuesdays with Dorie for a while. But then I started getting sick from dairy and wheat. Couple that with my son’s EE and there weren’t a whole lot of people I could bake for in my house anymore. Not REAL baking anyway. With the holidays here, I finally have an excuse to bake for real again. I went to my trusty book Baking from my Home to Yours from Dorie. You can check here for the recipe.

Of course I made a few modifications. I chopped up the chocolate and nuts a bit so they were smaller. I also added the currants and orange cranberries to the warming jelly. I wanted to plump them up and soften them a little. I used orange marmalade as the jelly. Oh my! It was wonderful!

Another really good tip is to roll the dough out between waxed paper. Put it back in the fridge to firm up before you do anything else. Then spread your jelly mix, add your nuts and chocolate. Roll them up and sprinkle with some nice chunky sugar like Turbinado sugar. Oh yah! That is what I am talking about!

Anjeanette