The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day One - Rugala

Rugala!  This might not be what you would think of as a Christmas cookie but I think it works.  This recipe is done in two steps; first we make the dough and then the filling.  For the dough you will need to gather the following:

Starting from the top we have 8 ounces of cream cheese, two sticks of butter (both of these ingredients at room temperature), 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of flour.  Put all of these into a mixer and blend until a dough forms.  Place the dough on a floured surface and divide into four parts, as seen below.

Once the dough is divided, roll each quarter into a ball, like so:

Place a square of wax paper on the counter and lightly flour it.  Place one ball on the paper and lightly flour the ball as well.  Place a second piece of wax paper on the top and use a rolling pin to roll the ball into a ten-inch round.

I have been rolling out pie crusts for over 30 years and I have yet to achieve a form that I would consider round.  They start out round but after a few strokes they become a sort of a lozenge shape.  After that, they continue changing into what I can only describe as an amoeba shape.  Go with your strengths.  I'm making Amoeba-shaped Rugala.

When you have the four balls rolled, place them in the refrigerator for at least one full hour.  They can stay in longer but no less than one hour.  The dough must be sufficiently chilled or you will not be able to work with it.  DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS STEP.


While the dough is chilling, gather the ingredients for the filling.  You will need a 12 ounce jar of preserves.  The flavor is up to you.  You will also need one cup of ground nuts.  Again, the flavor is up to you but it should be something that goes with the preserves.  I used walnuts.  You will need one cup of currants.  For some reason, these are hard to come by in Los Angeles so I substituted raisins.  Rounding out the picture below are 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Mix these four ingredients together (do not mix in the preserves).  Divide into four portions.  Set aside.

After the dough is sufficiently chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and carefully peel off the top layer of wax paper.  Prepare a surface to work on and lightly flour the surface.  Turn the dough over on the prepared surface and remove the wax paper from the other side.  (Do not follow the picture below; leaving the dough on the wax paper made quite a mess.)  Spread 3 ounces of preserves on the dough.  Here I used raspberry preserves.

Pour 1/4th of the filling ingredients over the preserves and spread it evenly.  When finished, cut the dough down the center, then cut each half into quarters.  Finally, cut each quarter evenly so you will have eight cookies from each ball of dough.  My recipe calls for cutting into 12 pieces but I found that 8 was much easier to work with and came out better.

When you have them cut, roll them up starting at the pointed end (in the center) and rolling toward the wide end.  Place them on a greased cookie sheet with the seam side down.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 17 minutes. 

As soon as you remove them from the oven, place them on a rack to cool.  When they are baking some of the filling will ooze out onto the cookie sheet.  If you let them cool on the cookie sheet, they will stick to it from the part that oozed out.  Also, wash the cookie sheet immediately, even though it's still very hot or you will have a fruit-flavored cement to try to chip off afterwards.


Bon appétit!