My favorite cookie: Rugelach Pinwheels Gluten Free

http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/walnut-cranberry-and-cinnamon-rugelach-pinwheels/

I don't really like cookies, but I love to make them. In 2011 I decided that I was going to send all our dearest a cookie tin from California. So began a daunting process of deciding on cookies to make. You can see the recipes I collect for this adventure in my shared board on Pinterest. Feel free to add other you like too. Anyway, of all the cookies I've made over the last two years, these are the ones I like. No. I love them. I hunt for them in cupboard. I troll for them on the cookie sheets and dash them into my mouth before they have cooled. I reason with myself that they are too delicate for shipping to others (They aren't), and I eat far too many of them.

So I had to make them gluten free . . . so I could further reason that I didn't need to send them across America when the only GF person I know is standing in my kitchen (or is also my boss at work - but she is always dieting). Alas, these are just GF and JUST AS FRIGGIN GOOD.

I adapted from Smitten Kitchen. That ladies makes lots of cookies. When I made them last, I was out of potato starch so I doubled corn starch instead. Worked fine. This recipes calls for apricot preserves. One day I bought this peach apricot spread from World Maket and used that as it was all I had. Brillant! Spreads sooo much more easily than plain preserves. Goes much farther in the recipe and tastes every bit as good. Get that if you can.

Make ahead tips: Make the dough and filling the weekend before. You can freeze this dough and defrost the night before you want to bake.

Ingredients

Dough

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 c glutinous rice flour

1/2 c tapioca flour

1/3 c potato starch

1/3 c cornstarch

1/3 c sorghum flour

1 t guar gum

Filling

1/3 c granulated sugar
1/4 c packed light-brown sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
3/4 c golden dried cranberries
1 c finely chopped walnuts
1/2 c apricots preserves, heated and cooled slightly

Topping

1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a mixer and process until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and continue processing until fully incorporated. Add flours and mix just until dough comes together. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Make the filling. In a food processer, mix together granulated and brown sugar, cinnamon, dried cranberries, and walnuts. Pulse til well chopped and of a fairly consistent size. Set aside or store in a zip-top bag.
3. Assemble cookie time. If you haven't already, warm the apricot spread of your choice and set it to cool.
4. Lightly flour your work surface and hands with extra glutinous rice flour. Roll out 1 piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. 
5. Spread a thin layer of preserves over dough; sprinkle with filling mixture. Roll dough into a log beginning with one of the long sides
6. Wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat with other dough piece; let chill at least 1 hour.
7. Cookie cook time. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
8. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping in a small bowl. I use a 10-oz custard cup because it is the perfect size. Set aside.
9. After the chill hour. Slice chilled dough logs crosswise, into 1/4" thick slices. Toss each cookie in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. 
10. Place cookies 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned, 18 to 20 minutes. Lift parchment paper from baking sheets and transfer to a wire cooling rack; let cool or eat.