TWD: Rugelach / Apricot Lekvar

So these so-called "simple" recipes in the book are going to appear right about... when?? This was another one that took a super long time to make!
While I was baking them, I was thinking that no way was it possible for them to be worth the time and effort that went in to making the recipe. (OK, to be fair, I skipped the slightly time-consuming step of toasting the nuts). But they were so, so worth it. YUM. Thanks to Margaret of The Urban Hiker and Jessica of My Baking Heart for choosing this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.
I had never made rugelach before this, and remembered them as always slightly dry, small cookies we would buy in plastic containers at the supermarket around Jewish holidays (even though we aren't Jewish, but we also eat challah all the time, so who cares). These are neither dry nor small.
They are gigantic! This recipe starts off with a surprisingly simple cream cheese dough, just made in the stand mixer, which is then chilled for a couple of hours. Then it is rolled out and filled with lekvar. This is a sort of spread, I have learned, which in this case is made with prunes or apricots. I made it with apricots and while it nearly made my immersion blender die and I had to pull out the food processor despite my laziness, it was fairly simple.

Over the lekvar comes cinnamon sugar, tons of chopped nuts (I used pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans), and tons of dried fruit (I used cherries, golden raisins, and dates). Okay, bear with me for a moment - what's up with dates? Seriously, I put them in because my dad requested it, but nobody told me that I would have to pit them after I bought them! Also, they look like cockroaches and are way too sticky. Not okay...
The dough is rolled up like cinnamon buns and the logs are refrigerated for another few hours (I did it overnight). Then they are sliced, dunked in more cinnamon sugar and nuts, and baked.

As you can see above, this recipe does not make a huge number of cookies. But, and I do not exaggerate, these things are the size of hockey pucks. One will be more than enough. Unless you're like me and the rest of the people who appreciate the goodness of sugar and butter, and then it's more like one until you feel like you just have to have another one.
Despite how long these took to make, they are so worth it. They received great reviews from my dad's work buddies, who got a big bin of them this morning. Please go try it out!

Enjoy!