A great rugelach recipe gets handed down in families, passed along on handwritten index cards or smudged printouts along with the family kiddush cups. This traditional Jewish pastry has been made in some form for centuries, having evolved from Eastern European pastries. Over time, two different styles emerged. The first was a labor-intensive cookie with a laminated yeasted dough (similar to a croissant). The second was a simpler, faster version made with cream cheese. (This is the version you’re most likely to find in American Jewish kitchens and delis because it originated here in the 1950s.) Some rugelach are rolled into a crescent shape, while others are formed into long rolls and then sliced—these are the latter.
Thankfully, you don’t need a bubbe of your own to learn to make great rugelach—just access to one’s recipes. This version comes from former Gourmet food editor Melissa Roberts-Matar. It was inspired by her great-great-grandmother, who owned a small hotel in the Catskills, and is made with a cream cheese–based rugelach dough that’s swirled with raspberry or apricot jam, nuts, sugar, and ground cinnamon. The dairy should be room temperature so that it’s easy to bring the dough together by hand, but note that you will need to chill the dough for at least eight hours before forming your cookies. Use a sharp knife when slicing the logs into equal wedges, so they bake evenly with clear spirals and golden brown tops. This is a fairly flexible recipe, so you can play with the fillings: Try using a different jam like cranberry or fig, swapping in Nutella, substituting walnuts for pecans, or making your version with a sprinkling of brown sugar, your favorite dried fruit, or chocolate chips.
Ingredients
Makes about 44 cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup plus 4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup apricot preserves or raspberry jam
1 cup loosely packed golden raisins, chopped
1¼ cups walnuts (¼ lb.), finely chopped
Milk for brushing cookies
Special equipment: parchment paper; a small offset spatula
Preparation
Step 1
Whisk together flour and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined well. Add flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, then flatten (in wrap) into a roughly 7x5" rectangle. Chill until firm, 8 to 24 hours.
Step 2
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of 1–1½"-deep large shallow baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 3
Cut dough into 4 pieces. Chill 3 pieces, wrapped in plastic wrap, and roll out remaining piece into a 12x8" rectangle on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment, then transfer to a tray and chill while rolling out remaining dough in same manner, transferring each to another sheet of parchment and stacking on tray.
Step 4
Whisk ½ cup sugar with cinnamon.
Step 5
Arrange 1 dough rectangle on work surface with a long side nearest you. Spread ¼ cup preserves evenly over dough with offset spatula. Sprinkle ¼ cup raisins and a rounded ¼ cup walnuts over jam, then sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar.
Step 6
Using parchment as an aid, roll up dough tightly into a log. Place, seam side down, in lined baking pan, then pinch ends closed and tuck underneath. Make 3 more logs in same manner and arrange 1" apart in pan. Brush logs with milk and sprinkle each with 1 tsp. of remaining granulated sugar. With a sharp large knife, make ¾"-deep cuts crosswise in dough (not all the way through) at 1" intervals. (If dough is too soft to cut, refrigerate until firmer, 20–30 minutes.)
Step 7
Bake until golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool to warm on baking sheet set atop wire rack, about 30 minutes, then transfer logs to a cutting board and slice cookies all the way through.
Editor’s note: This recipe was originally printed in the May 2004 issue of ‘Gourmet.’ Head this way for more of our best cookie recipes →
