Sea Buckthorn Pistachio Rugelach

by Lora Wiley-Lennartz
Whoops. Channukah flew by and with it my plans to post this on time. For the past few days I have been sick with a cold but I’m feeling much better now and powered through a few recipe ideas today.
I love being home in my own kitchen in Germany. Big differences from the NYC apartment rental, equipment and space. After peeping in my pantry for the first time in five months I spied this little jar of Sanddorn preserves.
It’s seriously like a treasure hunt in there, I have all sorts of jellies, creams, liqueurs and extracts tucked in there just waiting for an appropriate place in a baked good but sadly too little time here.
I’ve baked with sea buckthorn (sanddorn in German) back in April. My Vanilla Bean Paste Sea Buckthorn Tart with Brown Sugar Crust post explained this berry’s popularity in Germany.
On the hunt for a special rugelach flavor for this year, I found the jar. Thank you sea buckthorn. It’s a very tart flavor so I added brown sugar to the rugelach dough to balance it a bit. Adding pistachios also mitigated the tartness. The result? I now love tart flavor in rugelach. Who knew? To cut time I didn’t go for the crescent shapes and did these up in a roll. Not as pretty but they taste just as good.

Thanks to those of you who noticed I was trying a new layout. I chose one of  Blogger’s new dynamic views but found it not fully functional when trying to click on an entire post. Also couldn’t upload a custom header and it doesn’t include the widgets on the right hand side (they’re supposedly working on it.) Planning to switch over once they perfect it but for now back to the same old same old.

Sea Buckthorn Pistachio Rugelach

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 & 1/2 cups AP flour (plus more for rolling out dough)
  • 1 jar of sea buckthorn preserves (or your choice of flavor)
  • 3/4 cup ground pistachios
  • 1 tablespoon butter melted

Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Place butter and cream cheese in food processor and pulse until blended.
  • Add sugar, salt and flour and pulse until the dough comes together.
  • Divide dough in half and roll out on floured parchment paper. Each half should make a 9″x10″ rectangle.
  • Freeze dough rectangles for about 5 minutes.
  • Remove one rectangle with parchment from freezer. Place on top of a baking sheet and spread with preserves and then sprinkle the crushed pistachios on top of the preserves. 
  • Starting at the longer end roll tightly into a log.
  • Brush with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar.
  • Using a serrated knife cut the log into 1″ pieces. Repeat with other rectangle.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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8 comments

Laura January 4, 2012 - 9:11 pm

I bake my rugelach in a roll shape, too, but you seem to have baked these on their sides, like a pinwheel cookie. Cool effect. I like the sound of the tart jam and pistachios.

Reply
Paula January 2, 2012 - 10:40 pm

Glad you are enjoying bustling about in your old kitchen. Your NYC one is going to seem even smaller when you arrive back 🙁 I love pistachios, have never had rugelach but looking at this one I'm sure I'd love it.

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Russell at Chasing Delicious December 30, 2011 - 3:22 am

Wow. This looks soo good! Yum!

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angela@spinachtiger December 30, 2011 - 6:51 am

I adore rugelach. Never heard of sea buckthorn, but I'm sure this is delicious because it looks like it has all the right textures of crunchy and soft.

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Trix December 29, 2011 - 4:05 pm

I remember my old NYC apartment kitchen … can't believe I ever even managed to make a cup of coffee in there. No wonder everyone gets takeout!! Glad you are back at home and able to cook the way you please. Happy New Year!

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Jill @ MadAboutMacarons December 29, 2011 - 8:17 pm

Wow! I love sea buckthorn – it has a lovely flavour, as you say but adding in the pistachio and this rugelach? I need to visit Germany finally after too long after my student days. It must be a wonderful feeling being back home. Enjoy yourself, Lohr – wishing you a wunderbar, gutes neues jahr chez vous! Here's to many more of your adventures in 2012! Prost!

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Joanne December 29, 2011 - 11:51 am

Once you get to cook in a real kitchen, NY kitchens don't seem so awesome, it's true. I LOVE rugelach and this filling sounds super delicious!

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SprinkleBakes December 28, 2011 - 10:51 pm

Lora, this looks amazing! I'm sure no one minds that you posted this after Channukah. 🙂 I can't believe how fast this holiday season has passed!

xo

Reply

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