Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Rugelach & Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

Today I baked one recipe that I made before but which needed a little tweaking and one that I had not yet baked.

Last year I baked Rugelach for the holiday reception for my co-workers and when my friend Lynne passed down the goodie table, she exclaimed, "Rugelach!  Who made the Rugelach?  It's wonderful!!"  So I decided to bake the Rugelach again for these same coworkers.    The problem in the past is that Dorie says to heat up 2/3 cup preserves to smear on the dough.  The past two times I've baked these, I've dutifully tried to use up all  the preserves, only to find that a lot of it oozed out while baking and made things stickier and ickier than I'd like.  So this time I used about half and the results were much better.  I also decided to cut down a little bit on the chocolate, for the same reason.  I'm very pleased with how this year's Rugelach turned out.

Traces left from rolling up some of the Rugelach!
Rugelach for the party.


 I'm about 20 recipes behind in baking through the whole of Dorie Greenspan's great book, Baking from My Home to Yours.  The rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers officially finish next week, but I'll be playing catch up just a little longer!  This week I baked Dorie's Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake which is to be made in a 10 1/2 inch tart pan.  I had a 9 inch tart pan which I must confess I failed to measure before I started.  So the batter was really near the tippy top of the pan and baked over a little during the baking.   I had to bake it longer than the recipe says--not a surprise.  I feared that I wouldn't be able to slide the cake out because the top edge of the cake was pretty firmly stuck to the fluted tart pan ring.  But I gave it a little nudge all around with the side of a knife and it came out very easily.  This goes off to work with my husband who promises to take a taste and report back.
A bit of a spillover because my pan was too small!
The final product looked lovely!


7 comments:

  1. Wow, Peggy two yummy picks. They both look delicious. Thanks for the heads up on the Rugelach, it is on my list.
    Have a Very Merry Christmas.

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  2. gotta love rugelach! merry christmas peggy!

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  3. Loved that rugelach! I'd request that again, too. And the cake looks great. I haven't made that one yet. Merry Christmas!

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  4. Your rugelach turned out so well! I remember having the same issues as you originally did- thanks for the tips.

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  5. I love sending stuff with my husband to work! Im sure they will enjoy it! I love the rugelach too! I allmost made it!

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  6. I'm about 25 recipes from being done, and I'll be spending the first part of 2012 finishing the book. The polenta cake looks great, and of course the rugelach are amazing!

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  7. I never tried that cake- hope it tasted great! Love the rugelach too, your adaptations sound great

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