Easy Cut Rugelach

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup apricot preserves or raspberry jam
• 1 cup loosely packed raisins (optional) or currant (optional) or dried cherries (optional) or cranberries, chopped (optional)
• 1 1/4 cups walnuts or pecans, finely chopped (1/4 lb)
• milk, for brushing cookie

Directions

1. 1

   Whisk together flour and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined well. Add flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, then flatten (in wrap) into a roughly 7- by 5- inch rectangle. Chill until firm, 8 to 24 hours.

2. 2

   Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F Line bottom of a 1- to 1 1/2-inch-deep large shallow baking pan with parchment paper.

3. 3

   Cut dough into 4 pieces. Chill 3 pieces, wrapped in plastic wrap, and roll out remaining piece into a 12- by 8-inch rectangle on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment, then transfer to a tray and chill while rolling out remaining dough in same manner, transferring each to another sheet of parchment and stacking on tray.

4. 4

   Whisk 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon.

5. 5

   Arrange 1 dough rectangle on work surface with long side nearest you. Spread 1/4 cup preserves evenly over dough with offset spatula. Sprinkle 1/4 cup raising and a rounded 1/4 cup walnuts over jam, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar.

6. 6

   Using parchment as an aid, roll up dough tightly into a log. Place, seam side down, in lined baking pan, then pinch ends closed and tuck underneath. Make 3 more logs in same manner and arrange 1 inch apart in pan. Brush logs with milk and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon of remaining granulated sugar. With a sharp large knife, make 3/4-inch-deep cuts crosswise in dough (not all the way through) at 1-inch-intervals. (If dough is too soft to cut, chill until firmer, 20 to 30 minutes.).

7. 7

   Bake until golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool to warm in pan on a rack, about 30 minutes, then transfer logs to a cutting board and slice cookies all the way through.