Rugelach

During the holidays, any holiday, one of my greatest pleasures is cooking with my kids. Here's a plate of chocolate raspberry rugelach baked yesterday by my daughter, Jackie, and photographed overhead using natural window light.
I'm sure most of you have seen or eaten these cream cheese cookies traditionally baked on Hanukkah, but available in bakeries year-round. Yesterday while walking with my friend and author Julie Sheehan, I expressed my "trans-cultural" delight over the fact that Jackie had baked 150 ruggelach to be wrapped in sets of a dozen and presented as Christmas gifts to her boyfriend's family.
"Rugelach, what's that?" she asked.
"You know, those little crescents I had at my Hanukkah dinner."
"Oh those," she said, "I didn't know what they're called; how's it spelled?"
Never quite sure, I looked it up when I returned home. Here's what I found: Rugelach ( /ˈruːɡələx/; Yiddish: רוגעלך), other spellings: rugelakh, rugulach, rugalach, ruggalach, rogelach (all plural), rugalah, rugala (singular), is a Jewish pastry of Ashkenazic origin.