Hiiiiii! It's been a minute since I've been on here! Well, like, actually it's been roughly 50,000 minutes since my last post but who's counting?

We moved! Moving totally blows but now we have a cute and cozy little pink home that is reallllly starting to almost kind of come together almost a little - I mean, there definitely aren't thirty boxes piled up around me back off!!!!
I went off the deep end and dyed all of my hair grey in an attempt to finally resemble my lord and savior, Anderson Cooper. (EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: THIS WAS NOT OK)
I went even further off the deep end and stopped shaving my face to embrace my natural "could be thirty or just a 'mature' thirteen," look. It's been working out OK so far. (edit from the future: THIS WAS ALSO NOT OK)
I've learned to appreciate that some boxed wines, such as Shania and Bota box, are actually not all that disgusting and come in handy when you've got five rooms to paint that all have 15' ceilings, essentially locking you away from the rest of civilization for a week.

There have been a few other things that have occurred, but we'll get to that at some other time, because the rugelach is demanding attention.

To be real, I didn't even know what rugelach was until last year when I was prepping for a friend's Hanukkah party and literally typed "popular Jewish desserts" into Google. TURNS OUT - rugelach is totally the shit. It's basically a cross between cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies (somehow), and gets filled with delicious things like apricot preserves, nuts (heyo!), and someeeee sociopaths even make it with Nutella, which, like... girl. Yes.

They're somewhat firm, super buttery, and gooey at the same damn time. Plus, bonus points, you can basically shove whatever you want right on into them, so, unlike my future, there are endless possibilities for rugelach. I've gone ahead and filled these babes with an orange marmalade, a touch of rose water, and a sprinkle of pine nuts. It's somewhat reminiscent of a Lebanese iced tea, but, carbs.

Sidebar: I just found out from the link in the last sentence that Lebanese iced tea is actually only a thing in the New Orleans-area? What? (Brooke, Graham, did you guys know this?!) Do you guys not have Lebanese iced tea in other parts of the country?! IS THIS TRULY NOT A LEBANESE THING?

Anyway, more about the rugelach. I made a slightly adapted version of this crust recipe from baby girl Ina Garten, and as always, she's slaying it in the recipe game. Check out the full ingredient list and instructions below!

Orange, Rose, Pine Nut Rugelach

makes 48 cookies

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar, divided into two ¼ cup portions
½ t kosher salt
1 t vanilla extract
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup orange marmalade
2 t rose water
½ cup pine nuts
1 egg, beaten with 2 T whole milk for eggwash
½ cup powdered sugar, optional

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese on high speed until fluffy and pale, about two minutes. Add ¼ cup of the granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt, and mix until combined. With the mixer speed on low, add the flour ¼ cup at a time until fully incorporated. Scrape down the bowl to mix in any excess flour that may have gotten stuck to the sides.
Flour your hands and roll the dough out onto a well-floured work surface. Form it into a ball and divide it into four even sections, forming each section into a disk. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
When the hour is almost up, place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper. If you don't have enough (or large enough) baking sheets, you can totally bake them in multiple batches.
Once the dough has chilled, whisk together the marmalade, rose water, ¼ cup brown sugar, and ¼ cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into an 8”circle on a well-floured surface. To keep the rugelach from not falling flat during baking, make sure not to roll the dough any thinner than about ¼”. Evenly spread the marmalade mixture across each circle of dough, followed by a sprinkle of the pine nuts. Cut each circle into twelve triangles by first cutting it into 4 equal pieces, and cutting each piece into 3 triangles. Use the photos above as reference if ya need to!
Roll the dough from the wide end of the triangle to the pointed end.
Transfer the rugelach to the baking sheet and brush on the egg wash, followed by a sprinkling of granulated sugar. Bake for 15–20 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. If desired, sift powdered sugar on top before serving

Orange, Rose, and Pine Nut Rugelach