Mother's Day Cookies

Mother's Day Cookies

At Heather Lane Pottery we celebrate moms. We appreciate all that mother's do to bring order to our world. They so often are the finders of all missing things, the chauffeurs, the chefs, the emergency medical technicians, the listeners, the defenders, and the encouragers.

Celebrate your mom this weekend with homemade cookies. Try one our favorite recipes.

Shown served on our Spring Tulip Tray with our Tulip Mug

Rugelach with Raisin-Walnut Filling

(from The Perfect Cookie- America's Test Kitchen)

Yield 32 cookies

Dough

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound unsalted butter (2 sticks), chilled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

8 ounces cream cheese, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2 tablespoons sour cream

Fruit Filling

2/3 cup apricot preserves, processed briefly in food processor to break up large chunks 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins, preferably golden

2 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped fine (about 2 cups)

Egg-Yolk-and-Milk Glaze

2 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. For the dough:

Pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine in food processor fitted with steel blade. Add butter and cream cheese pieces and sour cream; pulse until dough comes together in small, uneven pebbles the size of cottage cheese curds, about sixteen 1-second pulses. Turn mixture onto work surface, press into 9-inch-by-6-inch log, divide log into four equal portions and press each into 4 1/2-by-3/4-inch disk. Place each disk between two sheets plastic wrap; roll out to form 8 1/2-inch circle. Stack dough circles on plate; freeze 30 minutes (or up to 1 month if stored in zipper-lock freezer bag). Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside with other filling ingredients.

2. Working with one dough round, remove from freezer and spread 2 1/2 tablespoons preserves, 1/4 cup raisins, 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar, and 1/2 cup walnuts, in that order, over dough; pat down gently with fingers. Cut dough round into eight wedges. Roll each wedge into crescent shape and place at 2-inch intervals on parchment paper–lined heavy rimmed baking pans. Freeze crescents at least 15 minutes. (Frozen crescents, if well-wrapped, can be frozen in a zipper-lock bag up to 6 weeks.) Repeat with remaining dough rounds.

3. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg yolks and milk in small bowl until smooth. Brush top and sides of frozen crescents with egg-milk mixture. Bake crescents, turning baking pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time, until pale gold and slightly puffy, 21 to 23 minutes. Immediately sprinkle each cookie with scant teaspoon cinnamon sugar; carefully transfer hot, fragile cookies to cooling rack using thin-bladed spatula. (Can be stored in an airtight container up to 4 days.)

Feel free to to change out the filling with different nuts, dried fruit and jam. They also taste delicious with a chocolate filling or hazelnut spread.