We celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah at my house. The last two years, I’ve shared Christmas cookie recipes, Christmas Eve Cookies and Christmas Fudge. This year I thought I would share a traditional Jewish pastry. These treats are versatile and great for any occasion.
Traditional Rugelach
Makes 32 cookies.
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter – softened to room temperature
1 bar (8 oz.) cream cheese – softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour – plus a little extra for rolling out the dough
1 large egg – lightly beaten
Filling options: 1 cup finely chopped walnuts mixed with ½ cup packed light brown sugar, raspberry or other fruit jam, or Nutella – Topping: turbinado sugar (optional)
Thoroughly blend butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, and salt until well combined with mixer using dough attachment. Add flour, and mix until a dough forms. Divide dough in half and flatten into round disks. Wrap both in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm – 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or use a stone.
In a small bowl, combine the egg with 1 teaspoon water to make an egg wash.
Working with one disk at a time, place dough on lightly floured parchment paper, and roll out into an 11-inch circle (about ¼ inch thick). Dust lightly with flour as needed.
Brush circle with egg wash.
Spread filling on top in a thin layer.
Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut each circle into 16 even triangles. Beginning with the wide side, roll up each triangle of dough. Place on the baking sheets with seam side down. Brush top with egg wash. Garnish with turbinado sugar if desired.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack.
A Brief History of Hanukkah
The events that sparked the story of Hanukkah have their roots in one of the many turbulent times in Jewish History. Around the second century BC, the land of Israel which was also called Judea, came under the control of Antiochus III, a Syrian King of the Seleucid dynasty. He allowed the Jews to continue practicing their religion.
The real trouble began when his son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes took over. According to ancient sources, he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek Gods. In 168 BC, his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple. They erected an alter for the god Zeus and began making sacrifices of pigs within it’s walls.
A Jewish priest named Mattathias and his five sons began a revolt against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Mattathias died in 166 BC, his son Judah took over the rebellion. He became known as Judah Maccabee and had the nickname, The Hammer. The rebel warriors who followed him were known as the Maccabees. Using mostly guerilla warfare tactics, after two years, the Maccabees were able to drive out the Syrians and reclaim their land.
Upon their victory, Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its alter and light the menorah which was a gold candelabrum whose seven branched represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night.
There are two Talmuds. They are both collections of Jewish writings. The Babeloninan Talmud dates from the 5th century with a few earlier writings, plus there is a Palestinian or Jersulem Talmud which dates even earlier. According to the Talmud, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle. Although they only had enough olive oil to keep the menorah lit for one night, it kept burning for eight. This led Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight day festival. According to another source called the book of Maccabees, there was an eight day celebration after the rededication but this source doesn’t mention the oil.
The religious text called the Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament. Hanukkah does not appear in the Torah because the events that inspired the holiday occurred after it was written, but it is mentioned in the New Testament when Jesus attends a “Feast of Dedication.”
The meaning of the word Hanukkah is dedication.
It used to be tradition for people to give money or gelt to one another for Hanukkah. But as Christmas became more popular, more and more Jewish people began giving gifts instead of money, but golden foil covered chocolate known as Hanukkah gelt is still prevalent. Latkes, sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), apple fritters, kugel- are typical foods served at Hanukkah celebrations. These treats are popular because they are fried in oil as a symbol for the miracle of the oil that burned for eight nights straight.
The most common way to spell Hanukkah is HANUKKAH, but all of the spellings are accurate, because there is no correct way to directly translate the Hebrew sounds to English, it could be spelled a variety of different ways and all of them are correct.
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