Romanian Rugelach(Cornulete cu gem)

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Romanian Rugelach(Cornulete cu gem)– is an old Romanian recipe for crescent cookies filled with jam, walnuts or Turkish delight.

I always loved these delicious crescent pastries, popular in many Eastern European countries. I already have on my blog another version of them, made with a different type of dough.

There are many recipes out there and I have to say that most of them are great. The dough on the first version of these cookies on my blog  is made with farmer cheese(or ricotta). It is a very old recipe that is used to make a lot of pastries.

It uses same amounts of flour, butter and farmer cheese and the result is a flaky cookie that is delicious. I truly recommend it to you to try it at least once because you can make anything with it, from these crescent cookies to pie crust to pastries.

A popular Jewish pastry, rugelach are called in Hungary kifli, date back to the Hungarian kifli, Austrian kipfel and Polish rogal.

Anyway, in the recipe I will share with you today, the dough is made with yeast and sour cream, a little bit different, but still extremely tasty. The cookies have a softer texture and they are not very sweet.

This is an old school recipe inherited from my grandmothers. Each country in Eastern Europe has a recipe of rugelach that is made with yeast.

The recipe traveled to America and over time, the yeast dough was replaced with an easier version made with cream cheese. (like my recipe I was telling you about, only that mine is made with farmers cheese or ricotta)

Rugelach became over time one of the most popular recipes in America and it is a cookie that you see everywhere around Christmas time.

The amount of dough is enough to make about 50 crescent cookies, so this recipe is great for the holidays, if you like to bake for a crowd. Use any jam you like, strawberries, raspberries, plums, apples, apricots or peaches. The sky is the limit! Enjoy!

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Yield: makes 50 cookies

Romanian Rugelash(Cornulete cu gem)

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Romanian rugelach(Cornulete cu gem)- is an old Eastern European popular recipe for crescent cookies filled with jam, walnuts or Turkish delight.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 2 minutes

Ingredients

Yeast starter:

• 3 Tablespoons/40ml whole milk warm(110F)
• 1 Tablespoon instant yeast(or fresh yeast-25 g)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar(12.5g)

Dough:

• 4 cups/17.6oz/500g all purpose flour
• 1 stick PLUS 6 Tablespoons/7.05oz/200g cold unsalted butter cubed
• 6 1/2 Tablespoons/2.8oz/80g sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract(5ml)
• 4 large egg yolks
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup/150g powdered sugar for decor

Instructions

1. Yeast starter:
2. Mix the warm milk(110F) with yeast and add the sugar. Stir well with a spoon and set aside for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
3. How to make the dough:
4. In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the cold cubed butter. Using the mixer paddle, start to mix until the combination of flour and butter looks like wet bread crumbs.
5. Remove the mixer's paddle and replace it with the dough hook.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients: the mixture of milk and yeast, the sour cream, the egg yolks, the vanilla extract and a pinch a salt.
7. Continue to mix until a dough is formed. Stop the mixer and remove the dough from the bowl.
8. Place the dough on the table and shape it into a ball without adding more flour.
9. Place the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover it with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
10. After 30 minutes, place the dough on the table and cut it in two. Shape one half into a ball, then roll it on the table using a little bit of flour.
11. When the dough is well spread put a round medium plate on top and cut the dough around the plate. Remove the excess and keep it for later use.
12. Cut the round into 8 equal slices, like a pizza.
13. At the base of every slice(triangle) add a dollop of jam and roll the dough to form a crescent.
14. Place the crescent on a cookie tray covered with parchment paper.
15. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
16. Continue to fill and roll all the crescent cookies and place them on the cookie tray.
17. Bake them for 10-12 minutes or until they are golden light on top.
18. When done, leave the cookies to cool down for 5-10 minutes, then roll them in the powdered sugar.
19. Note: The cookies must be a little bit warm so the sugar will stick.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

50

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 251Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 77mgSodium: 16mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 2g

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