Guest Post - Living the Gourmet

I am absolutely thrilled to have my Mama guest post on my blog! (Yay, Il Dolce Bacio's very first guest post!!)

In case you did not know, Catherine from Living the Gourmet is my Mom! She is also a contributer to Il Dolce Bacio. But today, she is guest posting!

Thank you for sharing this lovely Rugelach recipe with us, Mom!

I enjoyed these immensely. The pasty dough was sweet, flaky, and soft! The filling is a mixture of cocoa, dried fruits, nuts and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg!

Polish Rugelach
(Adapted from cooksrecipes.com)

Makes approximately 64 cookies.

Dough:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
2 ¾ all purpose flour

Filling:
¾ cup sugar
2/3 cup dried cranberries and raisins mixed
2/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts or almonds
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

For dough: Beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl until light. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Mix in flour. Gather dough into ball and gently knead until smooth. Gather each into ball; flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

For filling: Mix ¾ cup sugar, cranberries walnuts, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and cocoa powder in small bowl to blend. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place 1 dough disk on floured work surface. Roll out dough. Spread 3 tablespoons filling over round, leaving ½ - inch border. Cut round into 1/8 in. wedges. Starting at wide end of each wedge, roll up tightly and completely to tip.
Place cookies, tip pointing down, on ungreased baking sheet and form into crescents. Repeat with 3 more dough disks and filling. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining 4 disks.

Thank you Mama!
xx,
Tammy