RUGELACH RE-MIX

Holiday bakes are fickle creatures. Just when it’s all about the pie, suddenly it’s not. And then you’re in the thick of jelly doughnuts until it begins snowing confectioners’ sugar and silver drageés. Pretty soon anything spiked with ginger or glittered in gold will be so, yawn, December.
 
Yesterday I considered spending the day with Pie, but Pie had other plans. So I reached out to Rugelach who has been feeling a bit blue post-Hanukkah. I tried to console the traditional crescent filled with jam, nuts, and dried fruit. “C’mon cookie, you’re the quintessential holiday cookie. You’re evergreen! There’s not a cookie tray in town that wouldn’t make room for you amidst the Spritz.” Facing a few pantry limitations and unwilling to return to Trader Joe’s before the weekend, I made some adjustments. Rugelach came around to the idea of a pineapple upside-down inspired flavor profile.  Swapping out walnuts for pecans, and adding dried cherries to the mix, brown sugar stepped in last minute for cinnamon sugar. Rugelach brightened up considerably with the addition of pineapple preserves, confessing a long-term aversion to apricot.  In the end, the pineapple-cherry-pecan crescent played nicely alongside all of the Gingers in the cookie tin. Much like pie, the buttery, cream cheese-y, flaky, jam-filled cookie that teeters on being pie is a true labor of love. Which is why keeping a few circles of the rich dough tucked away in the freezer is always a good idea. Pie returns tomorrow to celebrate a milestone of sorts, so be sure to check back.