The Rugelach that Won Over France from Baking Chez Moi

The Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group made rugelach this week.  I like to eat rugelach but I have never made it before.

First you mix up the dough in the food processor and refrigerate it.  I left mine in the fridge for two days until I had the time and patience to roll it out.  

The filling is an unusual one for rugelach as it contains coconut.  I mixed the filling in the food processor, hoping that the chocolate and raisins would get ground up.  I would have been better off making the effort to hand chop the filling ingredients.

It took awhile to roll out the dough and fill it.  It was easier to roll out the second square of dough that had been sitting on the counter while I worked on the first square.  I had filling left over.   I didn't want to overfill and then have the cookies unroll in the oven.

Some other bakers commented that freezing the filled dough for an hour made it hard to slice, so I just refrigerated the rolls.  It was easy to slice in 1/2 inch sections as written in the recipe.

Unfortunately many of the slices tipped over in the oven.  The side that was against the baking sheet came out very dark.  Only about 1/3 of the cookies are nice enough to share.

Cranberry Crackle Tart from Baking Chez Moi

The Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group is baking its way through Dorie Greenspan's latest book, Baking Chez Moi.  This is the second recipe.

First you make the crust.  This is the first time I have ever mixed a pie crust in the food processor.  I also had never rolled out pastry between sheets of parchment paper.  Both techniques worked well.  The crust got a bit too brown although I pulled it out of the oven before the full time given in the recipe.

The cooled crust is covered with jam.  I used raspberry jam.  Then you whip egg whites with sugar, fold in cranberries, and bake.   My tart is not exactly beautiful, but it is delicious.  The combination of the sweet meringue and tart cranberries is so good.

Palets des Dames, Lille Style, from Baking Chez Moi

The Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group is starting on Dorie Greenspan's newest book, Baking Chez Moi.  The first selection is Palets des Dames, Lille Style, a soft round vanilla cookie.

The dough is very soft, so you chill it before baking.  My first batch came out nicely rounded.  After icing the cookies with a mixture of confectioners' sugar, milk and lemon juice I decorated them with edible flower petals.