Ahhh, rugelach. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Jewish dessert that is more beloved than sweet, flaky rugelach. Yiddish for “little twists” or “rolled things,” rugelach have become a popular dessert in America, enjoyed by Jews and non-Jews alike. They descend from an Eastern European pastry known as kipfel, which is a croissant-like cookie made with flour, butter, sour cream, sugar, and yeast. Sometimes kipfel are filled with fruit or nuts, sometimes not. In the early 20th century, American Jewish cooks took the concept of kipfel and added cream cheese to the dough, resulting in the delicious rugelach we know and love today.
Rugelach are often served on Jewish holidays like Hanukkah and Shavuot, though of course they can (and should!) be made throughout the year. Our family typically serves them during Rosh Hashanah, when sweet foods are made to signify a sweet new year. The rolled shape is similar to the spiral challah served at Rosh Hashanah, which symbolizes the cyclical nature of a year. Some people roll rugelach into a strudel-like form, then slice it to make spiral-shaped cookies. In today’s blog, I’m going to share the method for creating the more popular crescent-shaped cookies.
While rugelach filling recipes vary greatly, the dough most American bakers use for rugelach is pretty standard, comprised of equal amounts of flour, cream cheese, and butter. I add a bit of sour cream, sugar, and salt to mine because I like to shake things up. I’m a rugelach rebel! Actually, many people use sour cream in their dough instead of cream cheese, which is more similar to the way kipfel are made. I like to add both because I love the way the dough bakes up– crispy on the outside, soft and flaky and scrumptious on the inside. You’ll love it too. Promise.
I wish I could say that this recipe is healthy, but alas, it is just the opposite. That is, unless you consider fat, sugar, and starch to be healthy– and they might be, depending on how you look at it. After all, tasty treats in moderation are certainly good for the soul. I don’t recommend futzing with the recipe too much by substituting lowfat ingredients, since it’s the fat in the dairy products that ultimately makes these cookies so flaky and delicious. If you do try modifying the recipe for health reasons, let me know how it turns out for you– I’d love to hear! For the rest of us making full-fat rugelach, don’t worry about it too much. These cookies bake up fairly small, so you can treat yourself to a couple and not feel too terribly guilty. Life is there to be lived, am I right?? 🙂
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Rugelach
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Filling Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup berry preserves (raspberry, strawberry, or blackberry)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
Egg Wash Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
NOTES
Instructions
- Chop cold butter and cream cheese into smaller pieces. Put pieces into your food processor along with sour cream, flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse together ingredients until a crumbly dough forms and begins to fall away from the sides of the processor. Don't overprocess; the dough should look crumbly, like cottage cheese.
- If you don't have a food processor: let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together with the sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and sugar. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, mixing constantly, until dough holds together and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Don't overmix. Pour dough onto a lightly floured rolling surface...
- and form into a rough ball shape.
- Divide the ball into four equal pieces and form those pieces into rough balls.Cover each ball with plastic and place in the refrigerator. Refrigerate dough balls for at least 1 1/2 hours, for up to 48 hours.
- In a skillet, toast the chopped nuts over medium heat until fragrant.
- Pour the toasted nuts into a food processor along with the chocolate chips, berry preserves, and brown sugar. Pulse together until a thick, coarse paste forms. Reserve.
- Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl; reserve. Beat your egg wash with water; reserve.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly flour your rolling surface and rolling pin. Take one portion of the dough out the refrigerator (keep the rest of the dough cold until ready to use). Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. You may need to use the rolling pin to pound out the dough a bit at the beginning; the dough will be very firm and cold, but will become more pliable as it starts to warm. Just keep rolling with firm, even pressure, and eventually it will look like this:
- Lift the dough gently from the rolling surface (it may stick a bit) and re-flour your surface beneath the dough.
- Replace the dough onto the newly refloured surface. Use a round 9" cake pan as a guide to make a nice, smooth imprint of a circle in the dough.
- Cut the dough into a large circle, following the shape of the cake pan. If you don't have a cake pan, just guesstimate the size of the circle and cut it as smoothly as you can.Form the trimmed excess dough into a small ball. Wrap it in plastic and reserve in the refrigerator, adding to the ball with each batch that is made.
- Take 1/4 of the filling (about 4 tbsp) and place it in the center of the circle. Spread it very thin across the surface of the dough; a thick layer of filling will make your cookies expand and burst. You can use your fingers to make the spreading easier; I like to use my palm to flatten and even out the filling. Leave about an inch around the edges of the circle.
- Cut the circle into 8 equal triangles by first cutting the circle in half...
- then quarters...
- then halve the quarters to make eighths.If you prefer to make smaller bite-sized cookies, divide each quarter into three to make 12 equal triangles.
- Roll each triangle, starting from the wide flat end and rolling towards the narrow point.
- Keep rolling...
- and rolling...
- until the entire triangle is neatly and firmly rolled.
- Press the end point into the cookie to secure it. Place the rolled cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, end point down. Leave an inch between the cookies, as they will expand slightly during baking.When you are ready to bake, brush the top of each cookie with egg wash, then sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar.
- Place cookies in the oven and let them back for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.Roll out your next batch of cookies while this batch is baking. When the cookies are golden brown, remove from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.When you're finished making cookies from the four dough balls, make a smooth ball from the leftover dough trimmings you've reserved and roll it out to make your fifth batch.
- These cookies taste amazing served warm and fresh from the oven. They'll keep for a few days in a tightly sealed container. You can rewarm them in the microwave if you want to. Also, feel free to use this dough recipe with other rugelach fillings. If you're using a fruit-only filling, make sure it's an oven safe variety for pastry baking. Using simple jam or preserves alone (without firming them up with other ingredients) tends to make a runny filling that flows out of the cookies, which makes for a goopy mess. If you've never made these cookies before, start with my filling-- it's really yummy, promise!
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Yvonne Smith russell says
Yummy! This really sounds good! I would like to try it!!
Halima says
Thank you Tori, you are the best. My husband love Rugelach the one
with prunes we used to live in Brooklyn N Y. I’m now in Miami Florida.
And the recipe is great…………….THAKX AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dana says
I adore Rugelach and since I moved from NYC I no longer have it. There was a great kosher bakery on W 72nd that I used to pick up apricot Rugelach on my way to work many years ago. Thanks for recipe but the idea of me doing that many steps is…highly unlikely. Cheers!
Jane C. says
This comment is for Dana – And a question for Tori!
I think the bakery you’re talking about is one I dream about often — Lichtmann’s!! If it’s the one you’re referring to, they also made THE BEST Chocolate Babka!! Not like any I’ve come across — chocolate was almost a syrup!
Tori, can you help with that?
Mandy J says
My friend who lived behind Canters used to bring these to me everyday!! Sooooooooooooooooooooooo good.
The recipe isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, so I can’t wait to try to make them!
Limner says
You make it look so easy, from start to finish! I made mine with nuts and marmalade. They oozed, made caramelized puddles on the bottoms that turned into burnt sugar, that glued them in place. They were too good from the scorched bottoms, up, to throw out though. No idea what went wrong. Will try them again. I like the ones from Whole Foods, but nothing beats homemade.
Thanks.
carolyn barker says
These sound just wonderful. I was wondering what to bake special for my hubby when he plows our snow filled Maine yard tomorrow..
He will love these from the sound of the ingredients!
Thank you so much! I feel like I am snoopin’ around in your kitchen..
ARLENE SEIDEL ABRAMS says
SO glad to ‘meet you’. Your detailed recipe along with the pictures make this so tempting. Thank you 🙂
Andrew says
Start selling this prepared online!
Joanne Willoughby says
I have made several flavors of rugelach one with dried blueberries, blackberry jam,cinnamon and ground nuts and they are incredible and full of antioxidants .!
Melissa A. says
Looks wonderful. Is there a substitute for the cream cheese and sour cream to make it pareve and still turn out so good?
Karen Kinnane says
Melissa A., There is no substitute for the cream cheese and the sour cream. Look on the wrapping of the cream cheese (Philadelphia brand recommended) for pareve notice and also on cream cheese label. These are milch. You can’t serve them with a meat meal.
Tori Avey says
Karen, Melissa is asking if there is a pareve substitute — she’s aware that cream cheese and sour cream are dairy. I didn’t answer her question because I haven’t tested this with dairy-free cream cheese or sour cream (both of which exist– Tofutti brand is certified pareve for both sour cream and cream cheese). The fat content is different in pareve products, so I can’t offer my advice on substitutes. They may work, I just haven’t tried them myself.
Bonnie says
My mom used to make a yeast rugelach dough which is parve since she doesn’t eat cream cheese or butter. If Tori can’t find a recipe, I’ll check with my sister since I’m all about the butter and cream cheese.
Tori Avey says
I agree, Karen! If you’re going to make them, MAKE them. And yes, moderation is key. 😉
Anna Margaret Binder says
Always been curious about these. Thanks for the enlightenment.
Karen G says
Don’t Modify!!! In a moment of guilt about fat some years ago, I tried making these with low fat cream cheese and margarine. They were horrible. I just tell people each cookie has 1200 calories (not really) and to enjoy them but eat fewer. They are my favorite cookies.
Tori Avey says
Thanks Lisa! Getting that kind of feedback makes it all worthwhile. I can’t tell you how much all of your comments inspire me! 🙂
Lisa Ruminski says
Looking forward to making these! Thanks for the excellent…as usual…instructions!
Tori Avey says
Jackie, you could certainly make an almond filling for this, as long as the filling is somewhat firm and not too runny. Very wet fillings will drip out of the rugelach and make a mess. Many people like to use a combination of nuts, raisins, and cinnamon as a filling. I’m a fan of the chocolate myself, but they’re all good!
Diane, schneken are very similar to rugelach– the big difference is that schneken dough is made with sour cream only instead of cream cheese or a combo of cream cheese & sour cream. Schneken are more like kipfel, which are the predecessors of rugelach. But you’re right that they are very similar!
sensiblecooking says
I am sure it must have tasted great. Wow so much of effort on those pretty Rugelach. Very clever idea to use baking pan and cut it into pieces. Love your pictures made it even more easier to follow the recipe. Perfect.
Elle says
Mmmmm try different fillings too. I love to make these with pineapple jam or marmalade–lemon or orange are good–with some chopped candied or crystalized ginger!
Diane DeMarco says
First, these look delicious and I’m definitely going to try them. But I have a question for you: how are rugelach different than schneken? I see pastry that look very similar labeled as each of these. Is there a difference, or are they two names for the same thing?
Jackie Williams says
There’s a cookie with an almond filling….would this be one that can be used for that?