Rugelach Challenge..Sweet and Savoury

Snowbound for today, decided to finally do the January Challenge  at Have the Cake ... and realized that did not have enough of cream cheese for the filling; so boursin and green peas instead of cream cheese and spinach for a savoury pin wheel variation!

Followed Veronica's recipe for the base but decided to keep the pinwheel shape.

*The creamcheese and choclate filling with the meyer lemon zest in the pastry did not go well with  the 10 year old's palatte...

*It was not sugary or sweet but felt should have toned down the meyer lemon zest a bit in the pastry/substituted vanilla  and used it  in the filling instead! 

* Mixing the cocoa powder, cream cheese, sugar and choclate chip was not easy and I added 1 tbsp of milk to bind it all together.

*Plus would perhaps chill the filled up roll a bit before cutting it to get the edges  cleaner!

* also found that the 20-25 mintues baking time was not enough for the inner pastry layers to get cooked..so the time would be 30 minutes or more.

* Preferred the Savoury  Boursin-Green Peas one over the choclate-cream cheese filling; the meyer lemon zest in the pastry worked well with the savoury filling but I would still tone down the amount to zest of one lemon.

For the pastry base

•1 cup margarine
•1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

•2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
•1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tsps Vanilla essence/ zest of 2 Meyer Lemons [ I would tone this down a bit and substitute with the zest of one orange]

For the Sweet Choclate Filling

•1/2 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
•1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
•2 tbsps dutch process cocoa powder
•1/8 cup  milk choclate chips

 

For the Savoury Boursin and Green peas filling  
* 1 Cup of green peas

* 2 tbsps Boursin Cheese

* 1 garlic clove finely minced

* 1/2 a medium onion finely chopped

*1/4 tsp cummin seeds

*1/4 tsp fennel seeds

* 1/2 tsp  of white chilli powder or according to your heat level

* 1 tbsp of butter  

 

Method

For the Choclate Cream Cheese Filling

Again used the above method of mashing the cream cheese, cocoa, sugar, vanilla essence and choclate chips

 

For the pastry base

Used  the above method of processing the fcream cheese and margarine, adding the lemon zest, sugar and then the flour.

Chill it for at least one hour

Then heat the oven to 375 degrees

Divide the dough into two: one for the choclate and the other for the savoury filling.

Keep back the other half in the refrigerator.

 

 Roll  one half into a 9 by 7 inch rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.

Spread the choclate mix evenly and roll it  from the wider side,

Cut into pieces and place on a greased cookie sheet,

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on the middle shelf of the oven.  

 

For the Savoury Boursin and Green Peas Filling

Heat the butter,

Temper the cummin and fennel seeds,

Add  the minced onions and garlic  and saute until soft,

Add I cup of peas and saute until soft, coarsely mashing it in the process,

Season with salt and chilli powder

Cook for a couple of minutes,

Let cool before filling.

 

Roll the base into 1/4 inch thick 9 by 7 inch sheet/rectangle

Spread the filling evenly and roll from the wider side,

Cut into pieces  and place on a greased cookie sheet,

Bake  in 375 degree oven for 30-45 minutes until golden brown  and done. You can also turn it over and keep for another 5 minutes or leave the top as is, leaving the texture and ccolor!