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!
fauxfurr says
Can these be made gluten free by substituting a GF flour for the all porpose type? HAve you heard anyone trying that trick?
Thanks.
Tori Avey says
I haven’t tried it fauxfurr, but maybe another reader will see your comment and respond. Trouble with GF doughs is that they tend to be less flexible than traditional doughs, which makes rolling and shaping more difficult.
Deborah Schmidt says
I realize I’m late to the party here, but I’d like to suggest, if you’re not Celiac, you try using an unbromated, unenriched, unbleached flour. It’s available online if not in a grocery store near you. For many, the problem with flour is not the gluten but the chemicals. I’ve switched to this flour and it’s made all the difference in the world.
NANCY says
love how you showed us step by step how to make these and what they should look like thank you
Barbara Appell says
Hi Tori,
Just did some research and found a similar recipe for Hungarian kipfel. My grandparents were from Hungary, so maybe my mom got the recipe from my grandmother. Does this make sense?
Tori Avey says
Hi Barbara– kipfel is very similar to rugelach, in fact they’re almost interchangeable and both cookies are most certainly related. If you read the first paragraph of this post I explain the history a bit. 🙂
Barbara Appell says
Hi Tori,
My mom’s recipe for rugelach has 1 stick butter, 1 stick margarine, 3 cups flour, 8 oz. sour cream, 1pkg. Yeast, and 3 egg yolks. It’s rolled out into a circle on top of cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon sugar is also sprinkled on top. It’s delicious but I’ve never seen a rugelach recipe that contains yeast. I’m wondering if this isn’t really considered “rugelach”. What do you think? I have no idea where she got this recipe.
stacey says
Is there a nut free version of the filling that won’t leak? I’d like to make them for school, but it’s a “nut-free zone”. Thanks in advance.
Tori Avey says
Hi Stacey- try toasted sunflower seeds as a sub. Enjoy!
Sherry says
I’ve just made the rugelach but it’s several days (5) before I’ll serve them. What’s the best way to preserve them? Freeze them or refrigerate?
And then warm up before serving?
Thanks
Tori Avey says
Hi Sherry, I would double wrap them in plastic, then freeze them. Defrost them several hours before you plan to serve them. You can also reheat them a bit in a 350 degree oven to make them warm and crisp, like they just came out of the oven. Enjoy!
Helene says
I melted the chocolate chips with about a TB of butter….. Easier than trying to get those chips ground up. In my processor they act like pebbles and barely break down. Then combined the melted chocolate with the nuts, jam and sugar.
It’s a great filling. Thanks.
Milli Gad says
Hi – I also live in South Africa and am glad Maxine asked you that question – now I know and will definitely try this recipe – sounds great!
Maxine Boyd says
I live in South Africa and want to know what you mean by Berry preserves. We call it jam, but must it have whole fruit in??
Tori Avey says
Hi Maxine, preserves and jam are considered the same thing here in America. 🙂 Enjoy!
irene eva says
Thank you so much for the recipe! It is not the first one I made from you, they are all so great! Toda raba! (Trying to send you the picture, not sure how to do it 🙂
Tori Avey says
So happy you liked it Irene! You can email me the picture, contact info is here: https://toriavey.com/contact/ I’d love to see it!
Rosa says
Do you have a parve version of the rugelach recipe?
Tori Avey says
Not at the moment Rosa, sorry.
Robyn says
I tried cranberry and white chocolate. I was so afraid that the filling would spill! I decided to add a few T of flour to both the dehydrated cranberry-turned jam filling and the chopped white chocolate and walnuts. It was flawless, not a touch of leaked filling. Thanks for the great recipe!
Rachel says
I made these today; oh my yummy!!!! Keeping this recipe in my file 🙂
Leisa says
Do u think gluten free plain flour will work for the rugelach dough? Sounds a little like the cream cheese dough recipe for Hungarian pastries my Ma used to make.
Chelsea says
So I absolutely adore your website. I’m in a history phd program and I am a little obsessed with Jewish culture and history so obviously everything about your website is right up my alley. I made these today (I halved the recipe but I wish I hadn’t!) and they are INCREDIBLE. And surprisingly easy!
Tori Avey says
So happy you enjoyed them Chelsea! 🙂
Barbra Donachy says
I did wind up futzing with this one and about six other recipes and also what I had in my pantry. Man, are these the best!
Nancy Matro says
I used a vegan recipe for the dough but I used your filling recipe and you’re right – it is THE BEST! I was going to make half of the dough with your filling and the other half with a different filling, but after tasting the first batch, I made them all with your recipe. Thanks so much!
Sandra Geraci says
4/2/2011
Thanks for the awesome recipe and all the pictorials.
They look absolutely delicious and I cannot wait to make them.
Thanks
Richard Blaine says
I used to buy these at Canters, but to tell the truth my moms rugelach was always my fave, but your recipe is so close I can taste them as I read your post! I am going to have to make these and take them to mom and tell her I made them and she will flip cuz I have never made pastries or cookies in the past. Great recipe and you have a nice blog.
tidesong says
Since you shared the link for this on Facebook in your salmon recipe’s comments, I knew I had to make it. I made these today. Wow, took quite a bit of effort, but they were absolutely delicious! I need to work on my technique a bit because they weren’t all very pretty, but they were delicious nonetheless. I think the filling was a bit thick to spread into a thin layer, but I will try to play around a bit in the future. Absolutely delicious though, thank you for the recipe!
Tori Avey says
Hi tidesong! So glad you got a chance to try these. The filling is tricky, you want it soft enough to spread thin but not so soft that it melts out of the cookie. Next time, try adding more of the berry preserves, a little bit at a time, until the consistency is more spreadable. And yes, the technique takes practice, but don’t worry– after making them a couple of times, it becomes second nature. 😉