Apricot- or Chocolate-Filled Rugelach

This id a recipe from 'Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan. Posted for the Zaar World Tour 2005.

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Yields: 50 rugelach

Ingredients

• Dough

• 8  ounces cream cheese
• 1  cup unsalted butter
• 1⁄2 cup icing sugar
• 1  pinch salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1  large egg, beaten
• 1⁄4 cup granulated sugar

• Apricot Filling

• 1  cup  apricot jam
• 2  tablespoons  cake crumbs (optional)
• 3⁄4 cup walnuts, broken up

• Chocolate Filling

• 1  cup  shaved bittersweet chocolate (about 8 ounces)
• 1⁄4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas4.
2. Combine the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, salt and lemon juice and vanilla in a bowl, add the flour and using an electric mixer, combine all ingredients until a very smooth and soft dough has formed.
3. Alternatively use a food processor to do this and pulse until you have a soft dough.
4. Chill the dough for at leats 60 minutes in the fridge.
5. Mix the ingredients for either of the two fillings, or half the ingredients and make both.
6. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into four portions.
7. Shape into four balls and roll the balls out into circles of approx 1/8 inch thickness.
8. Divide the filling between the circles and spread it out.
9. Cut into pizza-wedge shapes that are approximately one inch wide at the outside.
10. Carefully roll them up, starting from the wide side (outside ofthe circle)towards the centre.
11. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
12. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for approximately 25 minutes or until golden.
13. Alternative:
14. Instead of the round shapes, you can roll out your dough into four 1/4 inch thick rectangles, spread with filling, roll jelly-roll style, from the wide end, so you get a long roll, rather than a thick one, and cut it into 1/2 inch slices.
15. Place them flat on a cookie sheet, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and bake as above.