Pistachio Apricot Rugelach
Pistachio Apricot Rugelach
I made these back in December for a Hanukkah party but didn’t post them then because I was enjoying my holidays. I was nervous about trying them out because there are so many steps involved it sounded easy to mess up. However these turned out amazing! I was super proud of them. The pastry is so flaky and the filling is delicious. I highly recommend spending the time it takes to make these, you will impress where ever you serve them!
Above is the size of the circle of dough before you wrap it to put in the fridge to chill. Below is the size of the circle after you’ve rolled it out, right before adding toppings.
INGREDIENTS
Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
170 grams (6 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Apricot Preserves
2 cups diced dried apricots
1 1/3 cups water
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Other Filling and Toppings
1 cup shelled pistachios,
1 egg
Sanding sugar
YIELD
30 cookies
TIME
Prep - 1 hour, 30 minutes
Cool - 1 hour, 10 minutes
Bake - 25 minutes
TOOLS
1 large bowl
Stand or electric mixer
Rolling pin
Medium saucepan
Food processor
Baking sheets
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, use a stand or electric hand mixer to beat butter and cream cheese until blended. Add flour and beat on low speed until dough comes together.
Divide dough into three equal parts. Flatten each third into a 6-inch circle using your hands. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
While the dough chills, make the apricot preserves. In a small saucepan bring apricots, water, sugar, vanilla, and sat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and pulse into smooth. Set aside to cool completely.
Finely chop the pistachios with a knife or in a food processor. Set aside. In a small bowl whisk the egg.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
Lightly flour a clean surface to prepare it to roll out the dough. Roll into a 1/8 inch thick circle. Evenly spread a thick layer of the apricot preserves. Sprinkle with pistachios.
Cut into 10 equal sized wedges. Start from the outside and roll each wedge into a crescent. Brush each crescent with egg, and sprinkle chopped pistachios and sanding sugar on the top.
Place on baking sheets and put the baking sheet back in the fridge to cool for 10 minutes.
Repeat the process with the remaining two circles of dough.
Bake each sheet for 25 minutes. The bottoms should be light golden and the tops will remain quite light.
Wait 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
ADAPTATIONS
You can change up the nuts and preserves you use for the filling. To save time you can use store bought preserves of different flavours like raspberry or cherry. Instead of pistachios you can use other nuts like pecans or hazelnuts. Finally you can add in other mix ins with the nuts, such as raisins, dates or chocolate chips.
Recipe adapted from two, the dough from Bake or Break and the fillings from Martha Stewart.
