Cinnamon Rugelach

Anyone else around here need some comforting this week?

I don't know about you, but what with the earthquake, the hurricane, and my children being stricken by hives, digestive issues, and nasty viruses, it's been a rather trying week for me.

No complaining from this gal, though.

Funny how these sorts of experiences make you thankful for the small things in life.

I'm glad that our power is back (only 24 hours without it) and that we have running water and (mostly) unspoiled food.

I'm glad that my children are healing (slowly) and that school is starting next week. We'll be back to normal in no time.

And I'm glad we have wonderful treats like these to comfort us and nourish us and keep us happy.

Cinnamon Rugelach, adapted from Culinary Creations
Makes about 2 dozen cookies


DOUGH:
3 cups flour (more or less!)
1 1/2 sticks margarine
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (use extract if you don't have sugar)
a dash of salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast (1/2 a packet)
1/2 cup orange juice

FILLING:
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
oil or margarine
egg yolk, for a wash
Turbinado sugar, optional

First, make the dough. Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer. Add more flour if needed, till the dough is smooth and not too sticky.

Let the dough rise for about an hour, till doubled in bulk.

Preheat the oven to 350*.

Split the dough into four even pieces. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Roll one of the pieces of dough into a large circle. Spread it evenly with some oil or margarine. Sprinkle with about 1/4 of the cinnamon-sugar mix, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge. Use a knife to cut the dough into triangles, pizza style.

Starting from the outside, roll each of the triangles inward to create a traditional rugela shape. Lay the rugelach on a baking sheet, leaving a little room for rising.

Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of dough.

Beat the egg yolk with a bit of water to make a wash. Brush the rugelach with the egg wash and then sprinkle with the Turbinado sugar, if you're using it. (It'll create a little sparkle and a nice crunch.)

Bake for about 25 minutes, till golden. Cool on racks and serve within 2-3 days. (Or freeze them and defrost at room temperature when you're ready to eat them. They freeze beautifully.)

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Onion Tart

Please. Bear with me. I know this blog is for ordinary people. People with jobs. People with families. People without much time on their hands.

People who think they don't have time to make tarts with dough from scratch.

But here's the thing. People who do just a bit of advance planning can serve up gourmet dishes for their ordinary families on an ordinary weeknight.

You can make the dough in advance. One recipe makes enough dough for two tarts. You can make both tarts at once (each one feeds about three people as a main dish), or you can put half in the fridge and use it later in the week. (I think it'll keep for 3-4 days although I haven't tried it for longer than two.)

You can cook up the onions ahead of time, too. You can drop some on the floor in your haste to get them done. Or not.

All that's left is to roll out the dough, assemble the tart and bake it.

Which can be done a couple of hours before dinner if you like. The tart is great at room temperature.

Promise me you'll try it. I'll feel better knowing that you will.

Onion Tart, adapted from The Art of Simple Food (If you don't own this cookbook, buy it NOW)
This recipe makes two tarts, each of which feeds about three people. If you prefer, you can make just half the amount of onions and reserve half the dough for another use. I plan to try some with fruit soon and will let you know how that goes. Oh, and if you're wondering if you can make this with margarine, please don't. The pure buttery taste is part of its magic.


The Dough
2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ice cold water
1 1/2 sticks cold butter

The Topping
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 large Vidalia onions, sliced thin
5 sprigs of thyme, leaves pulled off
30or so leaves of basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

First, make the dough. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the cold butter into small (1/4 inch or so) cubes. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips. When it's worked in and coarsely crumbly, slowly add about 3/4 of the ice water. Mix it in with a fork and then switch to mixing with your fingers. You'll want the dough to hold together. Add more water if you need to but you should not need more than 1/2 cup. Divide the dough in half, bring each dough together in a ball, and wrap each ball in an individual piece of saran wrap. Once wrapped, flatten each ball to make a disk. Refrigerate for at least an hour or as long as a few days.

Meanwhile, make the topping. In a heavy pot, preferably cast iron, combine the butter and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Heat over a medium-low flame. Add the onions and thyme, and saute for about thirty minutes till cooked through and just beginning to caramelize. (Do not, under any circumstances, let it burn!) If the onions seem liquidy, pour of the liquid. Set aside to come to room temperature, or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Chop the basil as fine as you can (or pulse it in mini food processor.) Mix it with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and parmesan and set the mixture aside at room temperature for up to an hour or in the fridge for up to 2 days.

When you're ready to assemble the tart, preheat the oven to 375*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Don't forget this step. It's important.)

Flour a work surface and roll out the first dough disk into a 14-inch round. To move it from your work surface to your baking sheet, fold the round in half and then in quarters. This is a wonderful technique I learned from Alice Waters which has taken all the frustration out of rolling out pies.

Once the dough is on your baking sheet, spread it with half the basil/oil/parm mix, leaving a 1-inch border or so all around. Then spread half the onion mix over it. Finally, fold the border up over the onions.

Bake for about 45 minutes, till the crust is golden.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This post was featured on Culinary Kosher!\

Linking this up to Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Yummy Mummy,  Let's Do Brunch and This Chick Cooks. 

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Over the Top Mushroom Barley Soup

I'll be the first to admit it. This isn't an every-night soup. It's rich and (somewhat) labor intensive. The ingredient list is kind of long, and kind of expensive.

But it's also really good. Special occasion kind of good.

Rich. Indulgent. Intensely satisfying. Try it. You'll be happy you did.

Mushroom Barley Soup
Don't skimp on the homemade stock; it makes all the difference. Feel free to make the stock ahead of time and freeze it. That's my secret; I put up the stock when I have a quiet evening for simmering. Then I freeze it so this soup is a breeze to make.

6 cups homemade chicken or beef stock (follow these instructions to make a basic stock, but add a package of chicken bones or a cleaned chicken carcass from a roast chicken dinner)
1/2 cup dry white wine
a handful of dried mushrooms
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 pound meat (I used sliced beef neck)
1 onion, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, cleaned and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon salt
16 oz. fresh white button mushrooms
1 cup pearl barley

Warm the stock and wine in a medium pot. Add the dried mushrooms and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large stock pot. (I used my Le Creuset.) Brown the beef on all sides. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Cook the onion on medium heat for 10 minutes or so, till translucent. Add the herbs and salt. Cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the mushrooms to the cooked onions and cook for about 10 minutes longer.

Put the browned meat into the stock pot. Add the stock and dried (now re-hydrated) mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then add the barley. Simmer for at least two hours (more is fine). Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two days. Reheat before serving.

Linking this up to Melt in Your Mouth Monday and Mingle Monday.

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Hamantashen

I know, I know, all this junk food is getting tiresome. But it isn't my fault. Honest. My kids have gotten into a baking frenzy lately. My son wants to bake every night, and we have cookies literally spilling out of the freezer drawers. And, yes, I do mean literally.

Sure, it's fun and keep the kids occupied in the kitchen through these (hopefully last few) dreary winter evenings. And I very much prefer that they take home-baked goods to school for snack over high-fat and high-sodium chips. But there's got to be a limit.

I couldn't say no tonight, though. It's the Jewish month of Adar, which means Purim is around the corner. And you know what Purim means. Lots of junk. And lots of Hamantashen. For the uninitiated, Hamantashen are sweet pastries traditionally filled with jam or poppy seeds, and shaped like triangles. If you haven't tried them, you should. They're easy to make and lots of fun.

We filled some of ours with jelly, but we prefer less traditional fillings like cinnamon-sugar, chocolate chips, and the very in-vogue NUTELLA. Very revolutionary, I know. But very, very delicious.

Here's our recipe with our favorite fillings. This is a great versatile dough which is easy to work with and wonderful tasting.

Hamantashen
If you've never formed these shapes before, take a look at the photos above or at the collage at the end of this post. The technique is simple. You just roll the dough, cut it in circles, fill it, and then fold the corners in. Be sure to pinch the edges really tight so they don't open while baking. 


DOUGH
5 1/2 - 7 cups flour
3 eggs (plus one extra for egg wash, if desired)
2 sticks margarine
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon baking powder

FILLING
fruit jam (we used Smucker's strawberry)
a mix of 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 4 tablespoons sugar
chocolate chips
Nutella

Preheat the oven to 325*.

Combine all of the dough ingredients in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. (Start with 5 1/2 cups of flour and work your way up to 7 if you need it.) Mix the dough for a few minutes until it's well combined and not at all sticky. (Add flour as needed.)

Divide the dough into about four even balls. Working with one ball at a time, roll the dough about 1/3 inch thick. Cut it into 3-inch rounds using cookie cutter, glass, or any other round object you have in your kitchen.

Place some filling in the center of each circle.

• For Nutella or jam, use about a teaspoon. 
• For chocolate chips, use about 5 chips. 
• For cinnamon sugar, gently press  finger down in the center of the dough circle to make a small indentation. Then put about 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon-sugar in the 'hole.'

Form the rounds into triangles by pinching the corners closed. 

If you want glossy shiny cookies, make an egg wash by beating one egg yolk with a little water. Brush the cookies with the egg wash before baking for 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool for at least 15 minutes on the tray and then transfer to racks to cool completely. Eat within a few days or freeze for later. 

This post is linked to Real Food Digest Sukkot 2011 Blog Carnival.

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Extraordinary Cookies

I know what you're thinking. Ordinary people don't have homemade cookies like these. Ordinary people buy store bought seven-layer-cake. If they are feeling ambitious, they bake chocolate chip cookies. Or banana muffins. Or simple chocolate cupcakes. Definitely not cookies such as these.

But ordinary people who have extraordinary eleven-year-old twin daughters just might. They just might convince their super talented daughters to bake and roll out sugar cookies. They just might convince their super helpful husband to take their daughters to the store for fondant and icing tips. They just might convince their super cooperative daughters to decorate said cookies with said fondant and icing tips.

So, there you have it. That's the story of how the very ordinary Locker family got such glamorous cookies to grace our Shabbos table this week. And the story of how this here Ordinary Blogger was reminded (once again) of how good it is to be a mother of two such wonderful eleven-year-old daughters.

Our Favorite Sugar Cookies
Because I am very ordinary, I'm posting the sugar cookie recipe here and leaving it to you to figure out how to decorate them so they look like the spectacular cookies in this post. (If you want to check out this site, you might find it helpful.)

1 lb. margarine
2 cups sugar
7 egg yellows
1/4 cup good white wine
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice (preferably fresh squeezed)
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 cups flour (you may need more)

Using an electric mixer, cream the margarine till soft. Add the sugar and cream till light.

Slowly add the eggs and beat until light. Add the remaining ingredients, in the order listed, using as much flour as you need to form a smooth soft dough that doesn't stick to your fingers or to the side of the bowl.

Roll out and shape with cookie cutters. Bake on cookie sheets at 350* for about 15 minutes (more or less, depending on the thickness of your cookies). The cookies should be a very pale golden color.

(If you're ambitious, let the cookies cool thoroughly before using fondant or royal icing to decorate. Sarah - one of the wonderful daughters mentioned above - warns that if you use fondant, you should be prepared for an experience almost as nauseating as eating spoiled yogurt (guess what she had for lunch today). But they sure do look pretty!)

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Simple Buttermilk Biscuits

For me, nothing says 'family time' like homemade biscuits (or scones) for breakfast.

As the kids roll out of bed on Sunday mornings, bleary eyed but refreshed from a good night's sleep, they smell that buttery crispy fragrance and their eyes light up.

We all enjoy biscuits. My husband enjoys them with cream cheese. Sarah likes them with butter, and the rest of the kids enjoy them with jelly.  I'll eat them any which way. So long as they are fresh and homemade.

I've tried a few variations, and Molly Katzen's recipe (from one of my very favorite cookbooks, Sunlight Cafe) is our favorite. It's simple, no fuss, and comes out great every time.

If you don't have any buttermilk at home, which I often don't, just add 1 tablespoon white vinegar to 1 cup of milk and let it stand for a few minutes. I don't taste a difference between biscuits made this way and those made with the 'real thing.'

Simplest Buttermilk Biscuits from Sunlight Cafe
I don't stress too much about the rolling and shaping. I don't mind if the biscuits are rough and oddly shaped. 

2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold butter
2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400*. Lightly spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Place the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a food processor or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix briefly to combine.

Cut the butter into slices and add them to the dry mixer. Mix as briefly as possible, just till the butter is cut up and the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Pour in the buttermilk and mix just until the dough holds together.

Roll or pat the dough into a rough circle, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut free form biscuits with a knife or glass.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until deep golden brown on bottom and light golden on top. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

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