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’ve been meaning to make this recipe for a while, and since it got cold out again I figured that I could just revert to cold weather food again for a day. The recipe is almost a combination lasagna (with ricotta and such) and meatloaf, then all rolled up and sliced. I served it with wild rice and a tomato-y sauce, but you could also serve it truly Italian with pasta, or go the other way with a brown sauce or glaze.
And now for something completely different in the cookie department … a complete departure from my usual chocolate or caramel or what-have-you (but not a departure from Linzer Cookie style cookies, which I seem to make fairly often), this week we something involving saffron and passion fruit, which go together quite nicely, I found out. Also, the smell of saffron when baking, because it is intensified, is just lovely.
And now, these aren’t Christmas Cookies … the cut out parts are meant to be flowers, even though they turned out more like stars. Although, I would make Christmas Cookies in May.
In a couple of days, the Kentucky Derby will be run for 2015. I’ve been seeing a lot of photos out there for Mint Juleps and such, but thought I would go in another direction with my homage to the the Running of the Roses: Pie. No surprise there, eh? I’ve been this type of pie been called Chocolate Chip Pie, but with my addition of Pecans and Bourbon, it almost seemed more appropriate to rename it as Kentucky Derby Pie. Southern, and all that. It is ooey and gooey on the inside, perfect for pairing with vanilla iced cream.