Plum Pecan Rugelach

For the dough, mash the cream cheese and butter together until thoroughly blended. If ingredients are sufficiently soft, this can be done with a whisk, wooden spoon, or fork. Mix in the flour. Dust your hands with flour and make the dough into a roll. Cut the roll into 4 pieces, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two baking sheets.

In small bowl, combine ground nuts, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. In a separate bowl, beat one egg white until frothy.

On a floured countertop, whack one ball of dough with a rolling pin until it is flattened a bit and then roll out to a 10-inch disc. About an inch from the outer edge of the disc, spread a couple tablespoons of jam. Your disc should look like a target: an inner bullseye of plain dough, then a ring of jam, then the outer ring of plain dough. Sprinkle a generous amount of nut mixture over the jam.

Cut the disc into 8 wedges, like a pizza. Working quickly, roll each wedge from the outside in. Bend the roll into a crescent shape. Dip the top of the cookie into the egg mixture and then into the nut mixture. Place cookies on the baking sheet about an inch apart, making sure the pointy end of the dough is tucked under the cookie.

Bake 25-30 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the sheet immediately and cool on a rack.

Yield: 32 cookies.