Favorite Rugelah
Submitted by qban
Cream cheese rugelach filled with cinnamon sugar, walnuts, and raisins rolled into flaky crescent pastries. A classic Jewish bakery cookie with a tender, buttery dough.
YIELD
48 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
22 minREADY
3 hrsFlaky cream cheese pastry rolled around a filling of cinnamon sugar, chopped walnuts, and raisins. These rugelach are the real deal, the kind you’d find at a proper Jewish bakery, with layers that shatter when you bite through them.
The dough gets its incredible flakiness from three fats: cold butter, cream cheese, and sour cream, all pulsed together in a food processor until just crumbly. Overworking it is the one thing that will ruin rugelach. You want visible bits of butter and cheese, not a smooth paste.
Chilling for at least two hours (up to two days) firms the fat and relaxes the gluten, making the dough easy to roll and ensuring those buttery layers puff in the oven.
Rolling the wedges tightly from the outside edge to the point locks the filling inside. This matters because exposed raisins will scorch in the oven and turn bitter. Tuck everything in.
Chef Tips
- Keep the dough cold at every stage. Work with one disk at a time while the others stay in the fridge. Warm dough sticks to the counter and loses its flaky layers.
- Press the filling lightly into the dough before cutting into wedges. This helps it stick so the filling doesn’t spill out during rolling.
- Chill the shaped rugelach for 20 minutes before baking. Cold pastries hold their shape and puff better in the oven.
- Chop the raisins and walnuts finely. Large pieces poke through the thin dough and make rolling difficult.
Variations
- Chocolate rugelach: Replace the cinnamon-raisin filling with mini chocolate chips and a sprinkle of cocoa powder for a chocolate version.
- Apricot walnut: Spread a thin layer of apricot preserves on the dough before adding the walnuts for a fruity, jammy twist.
Ingredients
Directions
OVEN: Heat to 350℉ (180℃). Grease baking sheets.
DOUGH: In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, butter, cream cheese and sour cream until crumbly.
Shape pastry into (4) equal- sized disks.
Wrap; chill 2 hours or up to 2 days.
In a cup, mix together sugar and cinnamon.
Roll each pastry disk into a 9-inch round, keeping pastry chilled until rolled.
Sprinkle rolled pastry with sugar mixture, walnuts and raisins, dividing ingredients equally among rounds.
Press lightly into dough.
With a chef’s knife, cut each round into 12 wedges.
Roll wedges tightly from outside edge to point (making sure filling is enclosed, as raisins will burn if exposed.)
Place on baking sheets.
Refrigerate rugelah while rolling each batch.
Chill all rugelah 20 minutes.
Bake 22 minutes or until lightly golden.
Cool on wire racks.
Store up to 4 days in airtight containers.
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