Vanilla Rugelach

I know time machines don't really exist -  but yesterday I really felt like I took a ride in one. As you know by now, I do a weekly baking session for the Torah and Tea ladies that meet at my home on Tuesday night (coming soon...Torah and Tea in Va Beach - email me for details!) and I every week I need to decide what our treat is going to be.

This week I decided to make vanilla rugelach and this is where the trip down memory lane comes in...

As I have mentioned in the past, I attended a Jewish high school in Montreal and lived with my aunt and uncle, Berel and Breindy. My aunt Breindy is an incredible baker!!  (I'll admit it I put on a few pounds living in their house.) Breindy baked and baked and then baked some more. There were always freshly baked babkes and rugelach and cakes and cookies. I always took some of her yummy treats with me to school for snacks - and my friends quickly learned that her treats were incredible - so sharing was a must :)

One of my favorites was her vanilla rugelach - so I set to work on making some yesterday.  After mixing the dough, and filling and rolling up 112 rugelach I can say I was wiped - but tasting the first delicious  pastry quickly transported me to some wonderful times in Montreal.

So...today I will share the recipe for these yummy treats. (The recipe is slightly different than the one my aunt sent me due to a missing ingredient.)

Vanilla Rugelach


Dough


16 cups flour
2 cups sugar
4 oz. yeast
1 1/2 cups oil
2 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
Pinch of salt 
2 cups orange juice
3 cups water


Filling:
Oil for brushing dough
1 cup sugar
1 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar


Mix all of the dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Divide the dough into smaller pieces to make rugelach (or divide by 8 to make babkes - I actually broke my dough down to 112 pieces.) Roll out dough as thinly as you can (I was lazy and just smushed the pieces of dough down using my hands). 


Mix the sugars together to create the filling.


Brush a small amount of oil onto each rugelah - and then sprinkle filling onto each one.  Roll the rugelach up and place on a greased cookie sheet. Allow to rise for an hour and then bake on until they start to brown very slightly. (Mine only rose for about 25 minutes.) 


Enjoy!!