Christmas Cookies

Baker and cookbook author Dorie Greenspan joins Evan in studio to talk about the holidays and share a wealth of baking tips for making rugelach. Greenspan writes the Tools of the Trade column for Bon Appétit magazine and is the author of several cookbooks, including Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City's Best Pastry Shops, and Baking with Julia. Her most recent book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, applies her years of professional experience to baking at home. She shares a few fabulous recipes with us.

Ruguelach

Makes 32 cookies

For the Dough

4 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces

1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped nuts (I prefer pecans, but you can use walnuts or almonds)

1/4 cup plump, moist dried currants

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 2/3 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

For the Glaze

1 large egg

1 teaspoon cold water

2 tablespoons sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar

For the Filling

2/3 cup raspberry jam, apricot jam or marmalade

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Put the flour and salt in a food processor, scatter over the chunks of cream cheese and butter and pulse the machine 6 to 10 times. Then process, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, just until the dough forms large curds -- don't work it so long that it forms a ball on the blade.

Turn the dough out, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disk, wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day. (Wrapped airtight, the dough can be frozen for up to 2 months.)

Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. (Silicone baking mats are great for rugelach.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sables

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt

2 large egg yolks, at room temperature, plus 1 large egg yolk, for brushing the logs

2 cups all-purpose flour

Decorating (coarse) sugar

Makes about 50 cookies

PECAN SABLES: Reduce the amount of flour to 1 1/2 cups, and add 1/2 cup very finely ground pecans to the mixture after you have added the sugars. (In place of pecans, you can use ground almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts.) If you'd like, instead of sprinkling the dough logs with sugar, sprinkle them with very finely chopped pecans or a mixture of pecans and sugar.

SPICE SABLES: Whisk 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg into the flour.