Author: Michael

| December 1999

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 3 (13- by 9-inch) metal baking pans. Line bottom of each with wax paper, letting it extend at 2 opposite ends, and grease paper. Break marzipan paste into small pieces and grind with sugar in food processor until no lumps remain. Transfer to a large bowl and add butter. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then add yolks and almond extract and beat well. Beat in flour and salt on low speed. Beat egg whites in another bowl with cleaned beaters until they just hold stiff peaks and stir one third into batter to lighten slightly (batter will still be stiff). Fold in remaining whites thoroughly. Divide dough into thirds (about 1 1/2 cups each). Stir green food coloring into one third and red food coloring into another, leaving one third plain. Spread each dough separately into a pan. (Layers will be thin.)

Bake layers in batches in middle of oven until just set and beginning to turn golden along edges, 7 to 10 minutes total. Run a knife along edges to loosen from pan, then while still hot, invert a large rack over pan and invert layer onto rack, pulling gently on wax paper overhangs to release if necessary. Peel off wax paper and cool completely.

Line a large shallow baking pan with wax paper and slide green layer into it. Spread half of jam evenly over green layer and carefully top with plain layer. Spread remaining jam evenly over uncolored layer and carefully top with pink layer (trim edges if necessary). Cover with plastic wrap and weight with a large cutting board or baking pan. Chill at least 3 hours.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove weight and plastic wrap and spread chocolate evenly over top, but not sides, of pink layer. Let stand at room temperature until almost set (don’t wait until chocolate hardens or it will crack), about 1 hour, and cut into small diamonds (12 rows crosswise and 12 diagonal rows), wetting knife if crumb starts to break.

Cooks’ note:
Do not make this dough ahead.

Makes 32 cookies. Published September 1, 1997.

If the dough gathers into a cohesive mass around the blade in the food processor workbowl, you have overprocessed it. Make sure to stop processing at the point where the mixture is separate and pebbly. If at any point during the cutting and rolling of the crescents the sheet of dough softens and becomes impossible to roll, slide it onto a baking pan and freeze it until it is firm enough to handle. Once the crescents are baking in the oven, start checking them for doneness at eighteen or nineteen minutes, especially those on the top-level rack. Feel free to substitute an equal quantity of chopped pitted prunes, chopped dried apricots, dried currants, dried cherries, or dried cranberries for the raisins in the filling. Chocolate-and-walnut rugelach are excellent without preserves altogether or with seedless raspberry preserves in place of the apricot.

Instructions

1. 1. For the dough: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine in food processor fitted with steel blade. Add butter and cream cheese pieces and sour cream; pulse until dough comes together in small, uneven pebbles the size of cottage cheese curds, about sixteen 1-second pulses. Turn mixture onto work surface, press into 9-inch-by-6-inch log, divide log into four equal portions, (see illustration 1) and press each into 4 1/2-by-3/4-inch disk. Place each disk between two sheets plastic wrap; roll out to form 8 1/2-inch circle (illustration 2). Stack dough circles on plate; freeze 30 minutes (or up to 1 month if stored in zipper-lock freezer bag). Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside with other filling ingredients.

2. 2. Working with one dough round, remove from freezer and spread 1/4 cup minichips, 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar, and 1/2 cup walnuts, in that order, over dough; pat down gently with fingers (illustration 3). Cut dough round into eight wedges. Roll each wedge into crescent shape and place at 2-inch intervals on parchment paper-lined heavy rimmed baking pans (illustration 4). Freeze crescents at least 15 minutes. (Frozen crescents, if well-wrapped, can be frozen in a zipper-lock bag up to 6 weeks.) Repeat with remaining dough rounds.

3. 3. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg yolks and milk in small bowl until smooth. Brush top and sides of frozen crescents with egg-milk mixture. Bake crescents, turning baking pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time, until pale gold and slightly puffy, 21 to 23 minutes. Immediately sprinkle each cookie with scant teaspoon cinnamon sugar; carefully transfer hot, fragile cookies to cooling rack using thin-bladed spatula. (Can be stored in an airtight container up to 4 days.)

Filling and Forming Rugelach

1. Cut the dough into even quarters. Press each quarter into a round, flat disk about 4 1/2 inches in diameter for crescents; or an 8-inch by 4-inch rectangle for roulades.

2. Place each disk between two pieces of plastic wrap and roll it into an 8 1/2-inch disk, or an 11-inch by 7-inch rectangle. Leave in the plastic wrap and stack on top of each other on a large plate.

3. Remove the dough from the freezer, place it on a work surface, peel off the top layer of plastic wrap, and cover the dough with preserves, raisins, cinnamon sugar, and walnuts.

4. For crescents, cut the dough into eight pie-shaped wedges. Starting with the wide side opposite the point, roll up the wedges to form crescents. Freeze them for 15 minutes, then bake as directed.

5. For roulades, starting from the long side, roll the dough tightly into a cylinder, taking care not to squeeze any filling out the sides as you roll.

6. Cut off a 1/4-inch section from each end of the cylinder and discard it. Cut the roll into 1-inch pieces. Place them seam side down on parchment paper-lined baking pans or cookie sheets. Freeze them for 15 minutes, then bake as directed.