Shopping for rugelach is one of my earliest memories and this recipe a family favorite. Its story plays a prominent roll in the Bubbe Berkowitz chapter of Zoë Bakes Cookies. This version features raspberries, nuts and chocolate wrapped in a simple to make, tender, cream cheese dough. It’s a popular Jewish treat that can be customized with different fillings and flavors! You can also make a variation that uses a super flaky, buttery, Rough Puff Pastry Recipe. Either is delicious, just depends on your mood and if you are in a hurry.
My maternal great great grandmother, Shirley Sierra (the name given to her at Ellis Island), had a bakery in Kiev, Russia (now part of Ukraine). She moved to Brooklyn, NY at the turn of the 20th century and continued her “bakery” there. It wasn’t a shop as we imagine now, it was just her, baking in her apartment.
According to my late grandmother, Sarah Berkowitz, her Bubbe would make rugelach, challah, strudel and all kinds of Jewish baked goods for her family and neighbors. She described their small apartment kitchen as stacked high with goodies, which in the depression must have been a welcome sight.
When I told my grandmother that I was baking rugelach with raspberry preserves and chocolate, she said that was “way too modern for her tastes.” She prefers hers stuffed with chopped prunes and raisins. None of Bubbe Shirley’s recipes exist today, no one even remembers if they were written down way back when. Until recently I got a steady supply of rugelach from a bakery in town, but when they shut their doors I was determined to create my own recipe.
After several attempts, all of which were tasty, but not quite ready for prime time, I landed on this recipe. The dough is soft and tender, with just a slight zip from the cream cheese and zest, which is a perfect complement to the sweet fillings. Eating them brings back great memories.
What Is Rugelach?
My family’s story is a perfect representation of rugelach! The pastry was popular in Eastern Europe in Jewish households. It’s often served on special occasions such as Hannukah or Rosh Hashanah, but is wonderful all year in Jewish and non-Jewish households alike.
Rugelach Ingredients
One of the joys of rugelach is how easy it is to customize. You start with the base of a crescent puff pastry, and add filings to your liking. Some filling options include:
- Nuts
- Cream cheese
- Sour cream
- Fruits
- Raisins
- Poppy seeds
- Chocolate
There are also options to make this dairy free for a kosher version. My recipe includes dairy!
How to Make Rugelach
See how to make them in the photos that follow, with the full recipe at the bottom of the post!
In a Food Processor cream together the cream cheese, butter and confectioners’ sugar. Add the lemon, zest and vanilla and pulse again to combine.
Add the flour and pulse the dough until it comes together in a soft ball. Divide the ball in two discs and refrigerate for about one hour or overnight. Dough can be frozen for about 3 weeks or until you remember that it is in there.
Preheat oven to 350°F. On a well floured surface, roll the dough to about an 1/8-inch thick round.
Cover with about 1/2 cup of the preserves. Use a Pastry Wheel to cut the dough into 16 equal pieces. I cut the dough into quarters, then cut those in half, and then halve those pieces.
Sprinkle on the nuts and/or chocolate if you are using. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Use a knife or the pastry wheel to make a small slit at the wide end of the piece of dough.
Roll the dough up, starting at the wide end, and slightly flare the split seam so that the ends are a touch wider. This will give your crescents a nicer shape.
Continue to roll the dough until the pointy end is tucked under the cookie. Repeat with the rest of the pieces, working rather quickly so the dough doesn’t get too sticky.
Place them on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment and lightly greased.
Brush the tops with a small amount of heavy cream.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are light golden-brown. Remove the cookies from the sheet while they are still warm, so they will not stick to the parchment. Allow them to cool on a wire rack.
Call your grandmother and get all of her recipes, so they don’t disappear! I’m wrapping up the rest of these cookies to send to her.
How to Make Rugelach with Rough Puff Pastry
There are two ways to make Rugelach in my book, Zoë Bakes Cookies. The super-simple, tender, cream cheese dough above AND one that’s a flaky rough puff pastry, which takes just a bit longer to make, but is so worth it.
Ingredients
Dough
- 8 oz (225g )cream cheese chilled
- 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (30g) confectioners' sugar
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 1/4 cups (270g) all-purpose flour
Filling
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon sugar mix 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar with 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (110g) preserves cherry, raspberry, apricot
- 1/2 cup (60g) chopped nuts, lightly toasted pecans, almonds, walnuts (optional)
- 1/2 cup (110g) chocolate shavings bittersweet, semisweet or milk (optional)
For the Top
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
Make the Dough
- In a Food Processor, pulse together the cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest until well combined. Add the flour and pulse the dough until it just comes together in a soft ball.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions (375g), wrap each in plastic, flatten into disks 1/2 inch / 1.3 cm thick and about 6 inches / 15cm wide, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to overnight. The dough can also be frozen for about 3 weeks.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175℃. Line two doubled-up baking sheets (the cookies will need some insulation) with parchment paper.
- On a floured surface, roll one of the disks of dough to a round with a thickness of about 1/8 inch / 3mm thick. Leave the other disk in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
- Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar evenly over the dough. Cover with about 1/4 cup of the preserves. Use a pastry wheel or pizza cutter to cut the dough into sixteen individual wedges. Sprinkle on the nuts and/or chocolate (if using)
- Roll the dough up, starting at the wide end, until the pointy end is tucked under the cookie. Repeat with the rest of the pieces, working quickly, so the dough doesn't get too sticky. If the dough is sticking in spots, use a metal spatula to help release it.
- Place the rolled cookies on a prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between them to allow for spreading and the filling to sneak out. Brush the tops with a small amount of heavy cream. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are light golden-brown and set.
- Remove the cookies from the sheet while they are still warm, so they will not stick to the parchment paper. Allow them to cool on a wire cooling rack. Repeat with the second disk of dough and remaining filling.
- Rate and review this recipe!
Wow these little guys look scrumptious! I love all the step by step shots too – they’re all great!
This is just stunning. I havent had rugelach since I went to NYC, and now that i see these beauties, I am longing to return. This is going into my bookmarks!
*kisses* HH
Ok, this is posting on my website. I have to share you! Julie at Copper Strawberry
I can’t stop eating them! Zoe, what have you done.
These look awesome – what wonderful traditions from the kitchen we find in our grandparents and great grandparents.
I think I’m with your grandma on the prunes, but I’m having a hard time saying bye to summer, and a last raspberry fix may help. Thanks for yet another wonderful recipe!
Im planning to make rugelach using this recipe on the weekend…you make this look soo doable Zoe..thanks so much.I do have a couple of questions though,does the dough recipe make 2 batches or 1? Also,is it possible for you to mention which raspberry preserves you used?I have tried a few..and none of them taste very raspberryish…if you know what i mean;)
That sounds and looks mighty tasty. That’s a lot of strong flavors combined. I’ll bet it’s delicious.
I love rugelach, but since I didn’t grow up with them, I don’t think chocolate and raspberry is “too modern.” I love the idea… maybe I should stack my apartment high with them too.
I did not grown up with rugelach, but when I made my first batch, with apricots and walnuts, it was love at first bite (including for the kids). Love these traditional cookies, that are labor-intensive, but oh so delicious, their taste is unforgettable. Will need to try your rich and tangy version.
You have inspired me to make these some day. I’ve seen a lot of recipes for them through the years, but these look really special.
Yummm, That does brings out lots of childhood memories 🙂
Though I really like the “modern” combination… 🙂
These pastries look just gorgeous! And your photographs are amazing as always.
Greetings from Israel,
Inbal
p.s. my maternal great great grandmother also had a bakery, and they were originally from Russia 🙂 funny
Wow these look amazing and what a beautiful grandmother! I treasure the fudge recipe my grandmother sent me written on her old typewriter.
Thank you all! My grandmother is gorgeous and such a wit! At 92 she has more energy than I do, in fact, she had to get off the phone to go hang out with her friends and play bridge!
Cheers, Zoë
Your story reminded me of the book “97 Orchard: An edible history of five immigrant families in one New York tenement”. It was very interesting. A lot of the immigrants had small businesses in their small apartments.
The recipe looks wonderful. I would have preferred having one of these than the horrid doughnut I had for breakfast. I really need to make these sometime.
Your grandmother looks adorable and I agree, get all the recipes from all the family members you can, while you can. I have my grandmother’s handwritten recipes she sent to my mother and I cherish them.
Zoe, those are beautiful! Thanks for the reminder to get those bits of culinary heritage while we still can . . .
Funny that you should do this post, when I was just thinking about rugelach today. I’ve recently gone gluten-free (temporary, I hope) and I was wondering what I was going to do what Christmas baking comes around. 🙂 I was curious to know if this would work with gluten-free flours. (Still fairly new at this, so while I understand why gluten is important to good bread, I have no idea what lack of gluten would do to pastry.)
Any thoughts would be appreciated. 🙂
Thanks!
CJ
sweet– the pastry and the photo!
Zoe the rugelach are lovely looking and sound delicious but what I loved most of all is the picture of your beautiful 92 year old grandmother – now we know where your good looks come from. I hope in three years I will look as good as she does.
They look delicious, Zoe! Loved hearing about the story behind them :). Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful story of baking and emigration and history. I love these snippets of historical memories. We just watched a documentary on Irish emigration that was filled with so many moments of families holding on to traditions in a new culture. I’m glad you’ve taken on rugelach and can pass it down another generation of your family.
Wow! That looks so addictive. I can finish them all.
ooooh this is delightful. Looked daunting at first but then your step by step photos made it all so do-able. Thank you Zoe!
Now I know what I’m making for Rosh Hashana.
I too come from a family where rugelach was made by both my mother and grandmother. The recipe they passed down was made with a yeast dough and the filling was made with browned butter, sugar, cinnamon, nuts and raisins. I tend to make this as well as one with a cream cheese dough. I like your addition of lemon juice/zest. I will try that next. Thanks for the post!!!!
I have failed many times at making rugelach. It made me wish I had a Jewish grandmother, aunt, sister, etc to teach me how to make them properly! Thank you for this step-by-step tutorial to help give me the courage to make it again. These look AMAZING Zoe!
Absolutely beautiful. I love the way these look, but I even love more the history of your grandmother’s baking. What a treasure!