Apricot Raisin Rugelach

COVID vaccine news arrived this week — authorization expected soon, rollout for healthcare workers and high-risk groups first. The timeline for ranchers in rural Montana is probably spring at the earliest, but the news shifted something. The weight of the year lightened slightly, not from any practical change yet, but from the knowledge that a practical change was coming. I noticed that I'd been carrying a tension I hadn't named, and the naming of it — this will eventually end — released something.

Tom Whelan has posted four more sections from the manuscript. The response has been building — he's developing something of a following among the equine community on RecipeSpinoff, which is a niche audience but a genuine one. Horse people are extremely specific in their opinions and they've been writing to him with their own histories, their own horses, filling in the parts of the valley's equine history that he knows from one angle and they know from another. He's overwhelmed by the volume and delighted by it. At seventy-nine this is not the year he expected to have a new audience.

Made the Christmas cookies this week — the pfeffernüsse again, and also a simple sugar cookie with royal icing that Mom and I used to make together when I was small. I found the cookie cutter shapes in the back of the baking drawer, the tree and the star and the reindeer with one leg shorter than the others from a manufacturing flaw that has been that way since I was eight. We use the imperfect reindeer every year. There's no reason to replace something that still cuts a cookie.

The sugar cookies and pfeffernüsse were already cooling on the rack when I found myself thinking about the rugelach I’d meant to make last year and didn’t. This year felt different — the news about the vaccine, Tom’s manuscript finding its readers, the reindeer cutter still doing its imperfect job — all of it made me want to fill the kitchen with as much continuity as I could manage. Rugelach take a little patience but they reward it, and patience felt like exactly the right posture for the end of this particular year.

Prep Time: 35 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 1 hr (plus 1 hr chill) | Servings: 32 cookies

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup raisins, roughly chopped
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, for topping

Instructions

Make the dough. Beat cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add flour and salt and mix until a soft dough forms. Divide into 4 equal discs, wrap each in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Prepare the filling. Stir together apricot preserves, chopped raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll and fill. On a lightly floured surface, roll one disc of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread 3 tablespoons of the apricot-raisin filling evenly over the surface, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edge. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar over the filling.
Cut and roll. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice the circle into 8 wedges (like a pizza). Starting from the wide outer edge, roll each wedge toward the point. Place seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough discs.
Finish and bake. Brush each rugelach with beaten egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake 20–22 minutes, until golden brown and the filling is just bubbling at the edges. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apricot Raisin Rugelach — The Cookie Drawer and the Imperfect Reindeer