Traditional Polish Rugelach

Ingredients:
/2 lb (2 sticks) butter
1/2 lb cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sifted all purpose flour

Filling:
1/2 cup plus 2 tbl sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3 tbl butter, melted
3/4 cup currants
5 oz (1 1/4 cups) walnuts, finely chopped

Stir the sugar and cinnamon together and set aside.
Do not mix the remaining ingredients.

Directions:
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until completely blended and smooth. Beat in the salt and on low speed, gradually add the flour. While beating in the flour, toward the end, the dough might start to run up the beaters. If so, the last of it may be stirred by hand. When the dough is smooth, flour your hands lightly and with your hands, form it into a short, fat roll. Cut the roll into 3 equal pieces. Form each piece into a round ball, flatten slightly, and wrap each individually in plastic wrap or wax paper. Refrigerate the balls of dough overnight.

When you are ready to bake, prepare the following filling and then adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut aluminum foil to fit cookie sheets.

Bake two sheets at a time for about 30 minutes, until the horns are golden brown. Reverse the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to insure even browning. If you bake one sheet at a time, use the higher rack.

With a wide metal spatula, immediately transfer the horns to racks to cool.