Fruit And Nut Strudel Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
• Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth. Add sugars, and mix until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time until combined; mix in vanilla.
• Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in coconut, apricots, dates, macadamias, and pistachios.
• Drop batter, 2 heaping tablespoons at a time, onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven; transfer cookies on parchment paper to a wire rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• Cream butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. Shape into three 10-in. rolls; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours., Preheat oven to 375°. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• Using on/off turns, blend first 3 ingredients in processor until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Flatten each dough piece into thin rectangle. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm enough to roll, about 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out 1 dough piece on lightly floured surface to 14x10-inch rectangle. Spread with 1 cup preserves, then sprinkle with 1 cup coconut, 1 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup raisins. Starting at 1 long side, roll up dough jelly-roll style, enclosing filling. Push ends in to compress log to 12-inch length; seal ends. Transfer strudel to baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Bake strudels until golden, about 45 minutes. Slide spatula under hot strudels to loosen from sheet. Let cool on sheet. Cut strudels crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick slices. (Store airtight for up to 3 days.)

Steps:

• Put the flour in the bowl of an electric mixer. On slow, mix in the butter until it looks like very coarse meal. Mix in the sour cream until it masses together to form a dough. Pat into a rectangle, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
• Filling:
• Coarsely chop the prunes. In a small saucepan, cover the prunes with the prune juice and sugar. Bring to a simmer for 3 minutes. Place in a food processor with the vanilla and puree to a paste. Mix in the raisins, cherries and walnuts. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a square 16 by16 inches. Place the filling in a log running along the bottom and roll up. Pinch the ends closed. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, seam side down. Mix the egg and water together to form a wash and paint the strudel. Bake for 30 minutes until crisp and golden. Let cool on a rack, then slice into 1 inch pieces.
• This was my Grandma Bessie's baking specialty. I haven't had this since she died but my brothers and I talk of it often, trying to re-construct what was in it. I re-discovered it at the Golden Key in Brighton Beach. Can be made on a rainy day with items in the pantry

Steps:

• A day before baking the cookies, prepare the fruit: Mix the chopped dried fruit and chopped apple in a bowl, toss with 1/2 cup of the sugar, pour in the vin santo, and stir. Cover with plastic wrap, and macerate overnight in the refrigerator.
• The next day, strain the fruit, catching and reserving the juices in a small saucepan. Return the fruit to the bowl, and toss with the chopped nuts.
• To make the dough: Stir together the flour, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil, tossing the dry mix with a fork to form coarse crumbs. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water, and pour over the crumbs, tossing and mixing them into a slightly sticky dough. Wrap the dough in plastic, press it into a small flat block, and let it rest briefly.
• Arrange two racks in the oven, and heat it to 375°. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Unwrap the dough, place it between two other pieces of parchment paper, and roll it into a thin rectangular sheet, 12 by 15 inches. Remove the top parchment, and spread the fruit-nut filling on the dough, leaving a 1-inch margin uncovered on all sides. Gently pat the filling so it adheres to the dough.
• Roll up the dough like a jelly roll, starting at one of the longer sides, into a cylinder or log about 15 inches long. You can lift the bottom parchment to support the dough sheet as you fold it over into a spiral, enclosing the filling. When the log is finished, wrap it fully in the parchment paper (so it doesn't stick to the table), and roll it back and forth a few times to make it more compact (and easier to cut).
• Unwrap the log, and trim off the ends with the serrated knife. Next, slice the log crosswise every 1/2 inch or so, into disk-shaped spiral cookies. (If these begin to crumble as you cut, re-form the log into a compact shape, and start cutting again.) Lay the cookies flat and spaced apart on the lined baking sheets.
• Place the sheets on the two oven racks, and bake for about 15 minutes, then rotate the pans-top to bottom rack, and back to front-and bake another 15 minutes or so, until the dough is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
• Meanwhile, heat the reserved fruit juices to the boil in a small saucepan, and cook until syrupy and reduced to about 1/4 cup. Remove the baking sheets from the oven onto wire racks, and while the cookies are still hot, drizzle the fruit syrup over them.
• Let the cookies cool completely. They will keep for a week or two if well wrapped or in a cookie tin.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat cream cheese, butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add egg; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to cream cheese mixture, beating until well blended after each addition. Stir in dates, chopped walnuts and cherries.
• Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto greased baking sheets. Top each with a walnut half.
• Bake 9 to 11 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely.