I made rugelach for the first time a few months ago. Since then I haven’t  been able to stop thinking of  all the delicious fillings you could make them with. This time I used pumpkin, spices, pepitas and raisins. They were so good. Not overly sweet….although if that’s what you are going for you could easily toss in some extra sugar.

The Dough

• 4oz cold cream cheese, cut into tbsp sized pats
• 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp sized pats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• confectioners sugar for dusting table

The Filling

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2tbsp sugar
• 2tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup pepitas, whole or chopped

Egg Wash

• 1 egg, beaten + 1 tbsp water

To make the dough-

1. remove the butter and cream cheese from the fridge. Let stand for 10-15 minutes or so.
2. add the flour and salt to your for processor and give a quick pulse.
3. add the cream cheese and butter. Pulse just enough to incorporate the ingredients, you want large crumbly chunks. Do not over do it!
4. divide the dough into 2 balls. flatten into disks, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper.
5. refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

To assemble-

1. when the dough has chilled, remove the first disk from the refrigerator and let sit for a few minutes.
2. dust the work area with confectioners sugar then roll out the dough into a 12 inch circle.
3. spread half of the pumpkin mixture evenly over the dough.
4. mix together the sugar, spices and salt.
5. sprinkle with a little less than half of the sugar/spice mixture.
6. top with half of the raisins and pepitas.
7. using a knife or pastry cutter, cut the dough into 16 triangles.
8. roll up each triangle, starting with the wide end of the triangle.
9. place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
10. refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
11. repeat with the second disk of dough.
12. preheat the oven to 350.
13. brush the cookies with the egg wash.
14. sprinkle with the remaining sugar/spice mixture.
15. bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

*tip-to prevent the bottoms from browning too quickly I like to double up my baking sheets!

Alternative fillings-

• favourite jam(not too runny),nuts of choice
• caramel, chocolate chips and shredded coconut
• chocolate hazelnut spread and toasted nuts
• apricot jam, almonds and mixed dried fruit
• butterscotch, raisins and pecans

Recipe adapted from Heather Christo

Today is my sister Emma’s 30th birthday. I had hoped to take her out to brunch but she was far too hungover for that. Since I wasn’t able to get her to leave the house I decided to whip her up a little personal sized cake and bring it to her. I hadn’t planned on making a cake so I had to use a recipe that called for ingredients I had on hand. This is what I came up with.

Happy Birthday Auntie Emm!!

cake: 

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

2/3 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup coconut milk

In a medium bowl sift together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour the batter into a parchment lined 4 1/2 inch cake pan ( my pan is about 3 inches high and I filled it 2/3 of the way) Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted all the way thorough the center. Let sit for 5 minutes. Remove cake from cake pan, place on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes. Once cake has cooled compleatly cut into 3 using a serrated knife.

*note: If you wish to keep this cake vegan, switch out the cream cheese and use your fave vegan icing!

icing:

2 tbsp coco natura, room temp

1/4 cup coconut spread, room temp

1/3 cup cream cheese, room temp

1 1/2 cups icing sugar ( use a bit more if you like thicker icing )

In a stand mixer whip together the coconut spread, cream cheese and coco natura. Add the icing sugar and whip until light and fluffy.

To assemble:

place first piece of cake on a small dish, top with a thick layer of icing. now add the second layer of cake and top with a thick layer of icing. Add the third layer of cake and frost the entire cake! sprinkle with a little unsweetened coconut. Enjoy!

*note: you can make mini muffins with the left over batter. in a greased mini muffin tin, bake for about 25 minutes.

I wanted to make Poppy a mini birthday cake that she would smash to bits and then devour because she loved it soooo much. Because of this I spent a long time searching for the perfect recipe. I wanted it to be healthy but also super yummy. I got a lot of flack from family and friends all of whom shook their heads at me in disapproval: ” it’s her first cake – make it a REAL cake,” they all said. I had a very different take on the subject. I knew for a fact I could make a healthy and delicious cake for Poppy without using a ton of crap. Also if Poppy has never eaten a sugar filled cake before she would never know the difference. I settled on this cake from Hellobee but struggled finding a healthy icing recipe that would be able to hold its form when piped ( I really wanted the cake to be pretty ). After a lot of internal struggling (lol) I decided to make a healthy cake with a regular cream cheese frosting

The party started at 4:30 and as the guests were flooding into our home I stood in the kitchen frantically trying to ice the cake. After spreading on the first bit of icing I tried to change my mind and toss the icing I had made and quickly whip up the healthy icing I had been looking at but my mother quickly talked some sense into me – ” dont be ridiculous, you are not throwing out all of this icing – just ice the cake”. So as our guests began to flow through the kitchen saying their hello’s I frantically iced Poppy’s cake…it was by far the fastest icing job I have ever done and it looked it… kind of defeating the reason I chose the sugary icing in the first place.

In the end non of this mattered. Poppy would not touch the cake. She hated the icing on her fingers and rather than licking the little bits off that we had to put on her fingers, she made mommy and daddy lick it off. It was a win win. No sugar ended up in her tummy and the next day I was able to do a beautiful photo shoot with Poppy and her cake! oh and after the photo shoot was over the grownups got to devour this delicious cake;)

*note:  I really wanted to start a few small but meaningfull/funny birthday traditions. This little pink hat is one of them. This hat is now Poppy’s birthday hat. Every year we will take photos of her in the hat….I’m sure you can see how this is going to become funnier and funnier as she grows. You’re welcome.