Sour Cream Chocolate Rugelach

A few things factored into my making of these Sour Cream Chocolate Rugelach, AKA ruggies a few nights ago. M, our tireless director, mentioned in passing that she loves dairy rugelach, traditionally made with cream cheese. (I remember making them once and disliking them, all the while thinking they were inauthentic because they were not made from yeast dough as the ubiquitous rugelach here in Israel are.) In any case, I had a container or two of sour cream around and we had a meeting coming up, so winging it based on a recipe from Baking for All Occasions, I created my own personal version of her dough. I had no idea how they would turn out, honestly. I chilled the dough and hoped for the best. People always ask me if I make up my own recipes and I always respond that I have no time to really freely experiment with no thought to costs. But I do explain that I substitute and tweak until the recipe indeed becomes my own. This is one of those times. I used a certain amount of flour and all the margarine I had on hand and as much sour cream as was needed to form a cohesive dough. For the sake of convenience, I refrigerated the dough overnight and when I came home from school the next day, I rolled it and filled it with a simple chocolate filling. I neglected a glaze because I don't like the eggy flavor that such a glaze imparts. But they were still divine in all their pale glory. The first batch I baked directly after baking but the second batches I refrigerated after forming to solidify the fat. This is a good tip that prevents an oozy, soggy and nasty mess due to room temperature margarine melting before the rest of the cookie bakes up. Ever since my near disaster with the Plum Galette-- this is something I do with all doughs of this nature. The baked pastries were adorable to look at and so delightfully flaky. They were amazing, in a word. Little bites of oven, especially when enjoyed direct from the oven. Fortunately, they were not as redolent of dairy and not as heavy as the cream cheese variety. All around the reviews were unanimously positive. Feel free to fill as desired.

Sour Cream Chocolate Rugelach

290 grams flour

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

125 grams cold margarine or butter

200 grams cold sour cream

Desired Filling (I used a mixture of sugar, cocoa and oil)

Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined.
Break up the margarine and rub it in with your finger tips until the mixture is full of coarse crumbs. Add most of the sour cream at one time, stirring to form a shaggy mass.

Knead the dough a few times to make it come together. Refrigerate at least four hours, until firm enough to roll, or overnight.
The next day, divide the dough into three portions. Flour a work surface and a rolling pin with flour. Using one portion at a time, dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Have your filling at the ready.
Roll the dough out into a large circle, as best as you can.
Spread a third of the filling over the dough, taking care to leave a circle in the center empty so that when you roll them up, the filling wont ooze out.
Cut the dough into eights or sixteenths. Eights makes larger pastries and the sixteenths making adorable little ones. Starting from the fat side of the triangle (not the point!) roll up the pastries into little crescents. Bake the pastries until they're lightly golden brown. I dont have an exact time, I just went by my eye.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in its pan for a few minutes. Once cool enough to handle, break off the chocolate oozy pieces. Remove to a rack to cool. Enjoy and Shabbat Shalom!