posted by judytoth 12-16-101 3:44 PM
posted by Schmitty in 1999
Apricot Cream Cheese Pinwheels
Pastry:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour
Filling:
2/3 cups apricot preserves
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
For pastry: beat butter, cream cheese and salt in a large bowl with electric mixer until smooth. With a fork, work in flour until blended and mixture forms a smooth dough. Using hands, flatten dough on plastic wrap to an 8 x 6 inch rectangle. Chill a few hours or overnight.
For filling: stir preserves and nuts in a small bowl until well blended.
To assemble: roll cold pastry in a 12 x 14 inch rectangle between 2 sheets of waxed paper or on a floured pastry cloth with floured rolling pin. Spread filling to within 1/2 inch of edges. Roll up like a jelly roll from long side. Press seam firmly to seal. Cut log in half. Wrap and chill until very firm or place in freezer for 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
With very sharp knife, cut rolls into 1/4 inch slides. Place 1/2 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 13 minutes or until bottoms and edges are golden brown. Remove to rack to cool.
Makes 56.
Note: I found that if I bake these using Silpat -- nothing sticks and no greasing is required. Also, I use a serrated knife to cut them and it works better than anything else I have ever used. I am also from the school that 'more is better' and found that if you place too much preserves in the roll, it will goo all over. I do, however, use a bit more than 2/3 cup of preserves that the recipe calls for.