Christmas Crafty Baking Day 2: Cherry Rugalah in Windowed Coffee Bags Mini Tutorial

Rugalah (sometimes spelled Rugelach) is a rich, tender cream cheese pastry rolled with fruit or chocolate filling and nuts. According to Wikipedia "The name is a Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew meaning "creeping vine," perhaps due to the rolled-up shape of the cookie." Rugalah are perfect for shipping because they stay fresh tasting a long time and hold up well traveling. I discovered this particular recipe in the Christmas issue of Canadian Living two years ago and it has become a family favorite.

Today's recipe can be found here << click. There is a button to click for easy printing to take to the kitchen.  I follow the recipe exactly with the addition of adding a tsp of vanilla to the dough because that's how I roll. You will be surprised to find that the Cherry Rugalah uses seedless raspberry jam along with cherry bits - but it works! Totally tastes cherry and yummy - but you can switch it to cherry jam if you can find it.

Once again I am using my Papertrey Holiday Treats set and a large Kraft Coffee Bag with a window so you can see the goodies inside. Be creative - if you do not have a coffee bag, they do have the smaller ones in grocery stores and also a crisp, new brown paper bag will look great once it is stamped. You can add an acetate window.  I put my cookies in a ziploc container before I put them in the kraft bag anyway so they remain airtight and fresh longer.

Making Rugalah:

Tips:

While you can use dried cherries, I like the moist and bright maraschino cherries. I quarter them.

The dough can be difficult to roll out - do not worry about having a perfect rectangle or the full size the recipe says - I have never been able to roll it out that big! Check out my imperfect rectangle.

Roll the dough tight and make sure the lip is sealed. Check again after you cut the roll - you don't want the cookie to unroll while baking.

I cut the cookies thicker than the recipe requires - when they are too thin they fall over while baking.

The finished product. As you can see some fell over while baking. I just drizzle them anyway. Trust me they all look great on the plate, or in the bag :) To drizzle the chocolate, I just melted some Hershey's  Dark Chocolate squares and put them in a Ziploc bag with a tiny hole in one corner.

Decorating Your Kraft Bag:

Once again I used the Papertrey Holiday Treats Stamp set, as well as some dollar store candy cane and gingerbread stamps. I stamped right on the bag in Red Magic and Gingerbread VersaMagic inks. For the main image, I stamped in VersaMagic Red Magic chalk ink and then clear embossed.

I embossed the gingerbread man with copper embossing powder, sponged around the 3/4 inch punched circle with Fabrico Spring Green (a very vivid, bright green) and put it on a foam pop up glue dot.

For texture and pattern I used Bazzill red as a mat then put it all on BasicGrey Figgy Pudding paper. To learn how to make a flat back bow please see my tutorial here.

I hope you find these tips and recipes helpful and inspiring.  Tomorrow's cookie will be much easier and less time consuming to make, but just as delicious.

{hugs}

Suzy

Comments

[Dee]

Suzy, I'm going to give these a try on the weekend... they look amazing xoxox

[Becky S]

Very festive! Looks delish!

[Ellie Augustin]

Ok Yum,Yum and YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM that's it I'm hitching a ride to Canada! lol TFS again! :)

[Beth Norman]

Oh, Suzy, these look scrumscious (spelling?). Thanks for the tutorial; it makes it look easier than I thought it would be. I'm printing out the recipe and trying it right away. Your packaging is adorable.

[Terry]

Not only a wonderful, talented stamper and craftsperson....but....a great cook as well.
I love your presentation. Especially when it includes the recipe.

[gailanne]

To me, Christmas baking is second only to my love of card-making, so I find your blog to be delightful. Great pictures and helpful tips. Gonna make these tomorrow!

[Amy]

Very cool! Very fun presentation in the bag. tfs