Rugelach Pastries
Rugelach is a Jewish pastry – shaped like a croissant, flaky & buttery like pie crust, and filled with cream cheese and jam – Delicious!
Rugelach Pastries
Makes: 4 dozen
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Ingredients
Dough:
- 8 oz cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
- 1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Filling:
- 6 Tbsp white sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ cup raisins
- 1 cup walnuts (finely chopped)
Other:
- ½ cup apricot preserves (pureed in a food processor)
- 1 large egg (beaten with 1 Tbsp milk (for egg wash))
- 1 tsp cinnamon (for garnish)
- 3 Tbsp white sugar (for garnish)
Instructions:
Dough:
- In a mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add 1/4 cup sugar, the salt, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- On low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined.
- Dump the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper (may need greased if dough is sticky), place another sheet on top, and roll into a disc.
- Cur the disc into quarters, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Make the Filling:
- In a food processor, combine 6 Tbsp of white sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, the raisins, and chopped walnuts and blend until very fine – almost a paste consistency.
Assembly:
- Once the dough is thoroughly chilled, you can assemble the Rugelach. Work with 1 disc at a time and leave the others in the fridge.
- Place a disc between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 9-inch circle.
- Spread the dough with 2 Tbsp of apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough.
- Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges (cut the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds).
- Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge.
- Place the pastries, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for 30 minutes.
Baking the Rugelach:
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Brush each cookie with the egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp of milk).
- Combine the 3 Tbsp white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon then sprinkle over the cookies.
- *Baking tip: these cookies often end up burning a bit on the bottom before they are completely baked. To keep this from happening, stack 2 cookie sheets together – this will make a thicker pan under the cookies and keep the bottoms from burning.*Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Notes:
Filling Options: You can fill these with several different combinations. The most common is cinnamon, nuts, & raisins (& jam), but you can also do chopped chocolate (or Nutella) & jam.
I discovered that if you go the cinnamon/nut/raisin route, definitely spread a layer of jam (your flavor choice) first. It creates the correct flavor/texture.
Make Ahead: I’m not positive how long these stay fresh after being baked, but you could definitely make these up ahead of time, freeze them unbaked, then bake them without thawing – add about 5 minutes onto the baking time. (Some adventurous fillings may not freeze as well, but most fillings freeze fine.)
These are really good – and the dough is very easy to work with and not temperature sensitive like pie dough when mixing. Just be sure to chill between making, rolling out, and baking to keep it from being sticky.
-It doesn’t matter what flavor, but make sure to use some jam (I didn’t and my filling was a little dry).
-Do double the cookie sheets (I didn’t and mine got a bit burnt on the bottom).