Rugelach always reminds me of Christmas. I don’t know why, actually, because they are really Jewish sweets and don’t have anything directly to do with Christmas. But nevertheless, they do.
And thus I have no explanation for why I am making them in June. I felt inspired, I guess. But I did use peach jam and pistachios, so it almost has a bit of a Middle Eastern flavor. A bit of everything, I guess.
I really like Florentine-style chocolate chip cookies … the thin and crispy kind. The trick to this, I think, is to make the dough and then make the cookies straight away. Letting it cool in the refrigerator firms up the butter again and then you get more “puff” to the cookies themselves. These, while not really chocolate chip cookies as their primary flavor, definitely are florentine style. The toffee bits make them even crispier. Quite yummy, if I do say so myself.
As an aside, maple extract is my new favorite flavor. If you can’t find the extract, simply boil down some syrup until it is thicker and more concentrated. Just be careful when you are doing that, as you don’t want to cause a “burned pan” disaster.
It’s getting to be strawberry season in about a months time and I always go PYO strawberry picking and then make at least one kind of jam. Last year, it was Strawberry Lemon Thyme Jam. I had the last jar of it in the pantry and when deciding what to bake, come across the idea to make some more jam pinwheels, and to use this yummy jam. Yes, the thyme is a little unique, but it works well and even better in cookies.
I clearly have this thing for Chocolate Chip cookies, and I seem to be on this never-ending quest to see what combinations I can manage to put in chocolate chips cookies. I also have this affinity for cardamom (favorite spice by far), so this week, I tried the combination of cardamom, coconut (the unsweetened kind) and dried figs. Oh, and oatmeal, to make them “healthy”. Turned out ok, but if I were to make them again, I think I’d add even more cardamom.
