TWD: Baking with Julia - Rugalach

Since the month of May has 5 Tuesdays, and my Tuesdays with Dorie group bakes on the first and third Tuesday, we had the option to make a recipe we might have missed on the fifth week.  I decided to bake Rugalach.  Have you ever had a rugalach?  If not, I am happy to introduce you to these delicious treats.  First of all, lets talk pronunciation.  Rugalach is pronounced like you might say arugula, the green, but drop that first 'a'.  RU-gu-la.  Since we can now discuss the treat appropriately, let's talk about what it IS.  Rugalach is a Jewish rolled cookie, having origins in Eastern Europe.  In Yiddish, rugalach means "little twists".  Traditional rugalach are shaped more like crescent rolls, rolling a triangle onto itself.  This recipe made the rugalach more like a jelly roll and then sliced them.

The TWD group originally posted about rugalach on March 6, 2012, which is before I joined this group, and I was especially bummed to have missed this recipe.  Why?  Well, we have come to another family tradition at our house.  We make rugalach every year for Christmas.  Obviously it is not supposed to be a Christmas cookie, but, well, it is for us.  My dad was actually raised Jewish and converted to Christianity as an adult, and our recipe is from my grandmother.   My cousins (my dad's brother's kids) also grew up with rugalach as a Christmas cookie.  What can I say?  Anyway, as it is my "job" to make the pecan sticky buns each year, it is my sister's "job" to make the rugalach each year. 

Rugalach dough tends to be made with sour cream or cream cheese.  The older recipes tend to have sour cream, and the cream cheese was an American innovation.  (Side note - isn't it amazing how many things are made with cream cheese?  I once helped host a baby shower and every appetizer we served was made with cream cheese, not intentionally!  I think for us Americans, cream cheese = goodness.)  Okay, back to rugalach.  My family's recipe actually uses a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese, so I guess we add a bit of new with the old.  The TWD recipe uses cream cheese.

Enough babbling!  Let's get on to the actual cookie!

Dyed Purple shorts!

My parents found some cute shorts for the Clever Girl at a consignment shop.  They were adorable!  They were denim (great fabric for kiddo shorts) and had sparkly bling on the pockets.  What is better?  Oh, but they were WHITE DENIM.  Is there any reason to even manufacture shorts in white?  In any size?  I think not.  The entire world could go without white shorts.  That is just my opinion.  But certainly white shorts on 3-4 year old kids is just ridiculous.  So, I dyed them!  Holy mackerel, this has opened up a whole new world of ideas for me! 

Once upon a time, the shorts were white.  I neglected to take a picture of the white shorts, so you'll just have to envision them with me.  They were not a bright white, as they were at a consignment shop and thus had likely been worn and washed a lot, plus white clothes never stay white for long, do they?  Anyway, the shorts were white and I decided they would be prettier in purple.

So, I dyed them.  If you have any random white clothing, or even light colored clothing that you think would look better another color, give this a try!  I used tips from MADE for instructions.  (By the way, if you haven't checked out that blog, you should.  She has great ideas!)  Anyway, here is what you need:

Gifts for the Teacher

This is my daughter's last week of school for the year.  She does have pre-school over the summer too, but it changes up a bit.  So now was the time to brainstorm a good gift for her teacher.  We made her a stamped apple bag and a framed subway art print!

Let it be said that I really have enjoyed my daughter's teacher this year.  Ms. Angie was marvelous.  I am sad that the Clever Girl won't be in her class anymore, to be honest.  Ms. Angie became a friend!  So, she needed a special gift from the Clever Girl and I.

Summer Squash, Bacon, and Mozzarella Quiche with Foolproof Pie Dough

You read that right!  It does indeed say FOOLPROOF pie dough.  A delicious summer squash, bacon (that makes everything yummy), and mozzarella quiche with FOOLPROOF pie dough.  Are you ready for this??

There is a SECRET INGREDIENT to this pie dough.  Just wait.  You won't believe it.  And it is essential!

Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

We are in a dinner club with some friends, and we meet (in a good year) every other month at someone's house for dinner.  The host plans a theme/menu and everyone signs up to bring something.  Most of the time, I sign up for dessert (Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce, this time).  I just can't help myself!  I don't get any complaints, so I guess it is okay!

May's dinner theme was a Louisiana Crawfish Boil.  Holy-mackeral there was a ton of food!  Our hosts just kept adding more and more dishes to an already full meal!  We were stuffed like ticks when we left!  Thank goodness we only do this every other month!  It was a delicious meal.  Besides crawfish, we also had some meat pies, gumbo, red beans and rice, fried green tomatoes, maque choux, a salad, hush puppies, shrimp creole and I am probably forgetting what else in my food overload!  For dessert, the hosts chose Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce.  

I was excited to try this recipe.  One of the most decadent things I have ever eaten is White Chocolate Bread Pudding at the Jazz Festival in New Orleans.  Oh, my, is it tasty.  Somehow, even though it is a zillion degrees outside and I am hot and tired, I can STILL eat that delicious concoction.  I just eat it with a Rose-mint Iced Tea and all is well.  You put the little plastic spoon in your mouth, close your eyes, and sigh with abandon.  You are transported to a world of deliciousness.  Since it is so amazing, obviously I had to find the recipe, so I have managed to re-create it at home a couple of times.  We have not returned to Jazz Fest since becoming parents and must get back soon.  I highly recommend the fest as a whole, and the food there is unlike any festival food you will ever eat!  Anyway, since White Chocolate Bread Pudding is so heavenly, and I am not even a white chocolate fan, could you go wrong with straight up CHOCOLATE bread pudding?  I think not.

TWD: Baking with Julia - Pecan Sticky Buns

Pecan Sticky Buns are close to my heart.  Every year for as long as I can remember, my family has eaten sticky buns on Christmas morning.  It started out with me helping my mom make them every year, and we'd be up late on Christmas Eve getting them ready (as we had not planned ahead, year after year to do it earlier)!  Over time, it morphed into my mom helping me make the sticky buns.  Until very recently, we have always used the same recipe, one that my mom found in the newspaper long ago and clipped.  A couple of years ago, I did a test drive of a new recipe (not on Christmas) and then created a new sticky buns plan, using parts of each recipe for our Christmas morning treat.  I guess you could say I am a sticky buns aficionado!  So when I saw that the Tuesdays with Dorie group was planning on making Pecan Sticky Buns, it was a challenge I could not deny.

The recipe can be found in the Baking with Julia cookbook on page 190 or by checking out our hosts' blogs, Lynn of Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat and Nicole of Cookies on Friday.  Each month we pick one "easy" and one "challenging" recipe.  This was the challenging one for sure!  Not challenging in a complicated way, but challenging in a lots-of-steps way.  Does that even make sense??

Overnight Caramel French Toast

I found a recipe for an Overnight French Toast on Cooking Light's website.  I like making a special breakfast on Saturday mornings.  "Special" generally means pancakes, but really anything other than cereal. To make french toast the night before and just pop it in the oven in the morning?  Great idea!