Rugelach could originally have come from many places, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, where a yeast-risen circle of dough was rolled out, cut like a pizza, smeared with jam, and then rolled up, revealing little corners of jam and chocolate-flecked dough. Once the cookies arrived on this side of the ocean, however, cream cheese and (sometimes) baking powder replaced sour cream and yeast, and rugelach became the treat we all love today.
Rugelach
April 07, 2021
Ingredients
- 8ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2cups unbleached flour
- Dash salt
- 1 ¼cup thick, good quality strawberry preserves
- ¾cup walnuts, roughly chopped and browned in a pan or 350 degree oven
- Sugar for sprinkling
Yield: about 64 small rugelach
Preparation
- Step 1
Put cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle. Cream on low speed until blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour and salt and mix until a very soft dough is formed, about 2 more minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
- Step 2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 3
Put strawberry jam in one small bowl and the nuts in another. Divide dough into 4 balls. Roll one ball into a circle about 1/8 inch thick and 9 inches in diameter. Spoon 1/4 of the strawberry filling onto the circle almost to the edge, leaving about a 1/2 inch border. Sprinkle with a quarter of the nuts.
- Step 4
Using a pizza wheel, cut each circle into 16 pie-shaped pieces. Roll up from the wide side to the center and press slightly to close. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Step 5
Put the rugelach on the cookie sheets and bake in oven on middle and lower racks, switching after 12 minutes, also switching back to front. Continue baking about 13 more minutes, or until golden brown. Remove rugelach to racks to cool. Sprinkle with sugar before serving.