Where's the Rugelach???

Welcome to the Tuesday, November 4th Edition of that wonderful online baking group, Tuesday's with Dorie!! Yes, this is the baking group that bakes together once a week, the same delicious recipe from that lovely Baking Book, Baking, From My Home To Yours, by the wonderful Dorie Greenspan. The recipe and our results are then revealed, in unison, every Tuesday.



This weeks recipe was Rugelach from pages 150 and 151, as chosen by Piggy of Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal .

You may be noticing something missing right about now, and you wouldn't be wrong if you said to yourself . . . SO . . . where's the Rugelach?????



You are right, it is not your imagination. There are no Rugelach here. There is a batch of the dough chilling in the refrigerator that I made early yesterday morning. There are packets of dried cranberries and pistachio nuts sitting in my larder along with a lovely jar of expensive orange marmalade. There is also another jar of Cranberry and Port Mincemeat sitting in there as I was going to do two versions of this wonderful recipe . . . yes . . . a Cranberry White Chocolate Pistachio version spiced up with Sweet Mixed Spice and also a Christmas version Using that jar of Cranberry and Port Mincemeat, but alas . . . by the time I got home from work at noon for my break . . . my kitchen was all in disarray!



YES!!! They are fitting my new kitchen cabinets, and the whole place is a tip! They have gotten only one of the upper units in so far and my table it covered with stuff, my other counter is covered with stuff, my floor is covered with stuff as is the top of my stove and every other available surface in the place . . . so . . . no cooking from me for these next few days. Oh, I still have recipes to share because, thankfully, I did up some ahead last week, but unfortunately Rugelach was not one of them . . .

I will be doing them at some point this week . . . just not today.

If you would like to have the recipe for the Rugelach make sure you check out Piggy's Page, and if you would like to see some of the wonderful adaptions of this recipe made by the other members, please feel free to check out the Tuesday's With Dorie Page! (There's like a bazillion of us now!)

Next week for November 11th, Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl has selected, Kugelhopf on pages 61-63. With any luck my kitchen will have been fully fitted by then and things will be back normal and then I can use my Kugelhopf pan that I bought a few years ago and has been collecting dust on the shelf ever since!!! Oh Happy Day!!



In the meantime because I cannot leave you without at least one delicious thing to look at here this morning, I give you a delicious, decadent dessert I made for us late last week . . . Sticky Gingerbread Fondants with Salted Caramel . . . mmm . . . mmm . . . good!



*Sticky Gingerbread Fondants with Salted Caramel*
Serves 8

Several years ago a very popular dessert was the chocolate fondants. I must have made umpteen bazillion of them at work for the functions up there, and mighty good they were too. My Todd though, hates chocolate, so I was never able to enjoy them here at home. I have found a way around that however . . . Sticky Gingerbread ones with meltingly delicious Salted Caramel centres. Now this, my friends . . . IS bliss!

For the Cakes:
4 ounces stem ginger in syrup, (approximately 8 pieces)
1 rounded teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
6 ounces self raising flour
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
3 ounces soft butter
4 ounces dark muscovado sugar
1 TBS dark treacle (or molasses)
6 ounces warm water

For the Salted Caramel Centres:
200g sugar
100g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
100ml double cream
Sea salt

First make the Caramel. Heat the sugar in a heavy based skillet over low heat. Shake from time to time to move it around, until it is dissolved. Add the butter and increase the heat to high. Cook until the butter and sugar blend together and turn a deep caramel colour. Remove from the heat. Pour in the cream and mix all together well. Pour into a small bowl and leave to cool completely.

Once completely cold and the caramel is firm. Scoop out eight small balls with a melon baller or a teaspoon. Roll between the palms of your hands to shape even balls, then roll each in a pinch of sea salt. Place on a baking sheet which you have lined with parchment paper and pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes to partially freeze.

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. You will need 8 6-ounce pudding basins or ramekins. Butter each very well and lightly dust with flour, shaking out any excess. Place them on a baking sheet.

Put the pieces of stem ginger into the food processor and blitz a couple of times to chop it very small. Be care full not to puree it. Alternately you can chop it very small by hand.

Sift the flour, spices, baking powder and baking soda into a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, butter, sugar, treacle and fresh ginger. Beat together with your electric mixer, adding the warm water gradually until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the chopped stem ginger.

Divide half the mixture between the prepared pudding molds. Remove the caramel from the freeze and balance a ball on top of each one, then cover with the remaining cake batter.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until they feel springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and let stand for about five minutes before running a sharp knife around the edges of the moulds and tipping them out onto serving plates.

Serve immediately with lashings of double cream for a real taste treat! Be careful though as that inside caramel will be quite hot!