These are definitely my all-time favorite cookies. They're just perfection--soft, slightly sweet dough curled around a gooey cinnamon raisin filling. Apricot preserves serve as the binding for the filling, and it forms a thin layer of chewy caramel on the bottoms of the cookies. Although they take some time to make, after being saturated with typical cookies, these are the best solution.
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 pound unsalted butter (16 tablespoons)
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (1.75 ounces)
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts (4 ounces)
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 extra large egg
1 tablespoon milk
Leave the cream cheese and butter on the counter until they reach room temperature, about 65-67 degrees. Of course, you don't have to take the butter's temperature, just leave it outside for 30 minutes. Unless you're a little eccentric.
Ooh, nice and soft.
Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until light, fluffy, and pale yellow.
Add salt, vanilla, and 1/4 cup sugar.
Cream again until totally incorporated, then fold in the flour with a spatula until just incorporated. There's no egg in this dough, so please lick the beaters!
Lightly flour a cutting board, dump out the dough, and gently gather it together into a ball.
Divide the ball of dough into cute little quarters.
Without working the dough too much, form each section into a ball and seal snugly in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate dough for one hour.
While the dough is cooling, finely chop the walnuts. I absolutely love walnuts in desserts: they're rich, slightly crunchy, and they maintain their flavor even after baked. Usually, I prefer them roughly chopped, but since this is a rolled pastry, large pieces of walnuts will rip the dough.
Add the raisins, breaking up any raisin clumps...
...then the brown sugar, 6 tablespoons sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
Combine so the nuts and raisins are lightly coated in the sugars.
Again lightly flour a cutting board and roll a dough ball to a diameter of 9 inches. I know this is a cutting board on a cutting board, but I think sweet things like fruits and pastry pick up off-flavors on cutting boards mostly used for savory things like chilies and herbs (I learned from a very oniony mango smoothie I once made). Plastic cutting boards are easily freed of all residue in the dishwasher, so I always keep a few handy.
Tears will appear in the periphery; just gently pinch the edges together.
Evenly spread 2 tablespoons of apricot preserves over the dough. The best part is those juicy chunks of apricot.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the raisin mixture on top of the preserves and gently press into the dough. Divide the circle into 12 even triangles; I prefer a rolling pizza cutter, but in its absence, a very large knife works. I'm pretty embarrassed by the uneven circle of dough, but after the cookies are rolled, you can't tell anyway.
Alternatively, you can cut the dough into 12 sections before sprinkling on the filling, which I find to be easier since the raisins are sticky and annoying to cut through.
Carefully roll each triangle into a tight twist, starting with the large base and working towards the point.
Press the tip of the triangle into the underside of the cookie so the roll won't come unrolled.
Beat the egg and milk together for an egg wash.
Whisk together 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. (The leftover cinnamon sugar is delicious in coffee!)
Brush the top of each cookie with a splash of the egg wash. Parchment paper is fantastic under the cookies and makes cleaning up practically nonexistent.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until the tops and edges are light brown and the preserves have melted and bound the raisins and walnuts together.
Wait a minute after they come out of the oven, then move the cookies to a wire cooling rack. If they're left on the hot baking sheet, the cookie bottoms will burn.
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