Oy, Bernie, you trying to get my sugar up again?

Oh, rugelach. How I love thee. Flaky, sugary, moist and delicious.

Is it Yiddish? Is it Middle-Eastern? Eastern European? All I know is it’s fantastic.


So you wanna try and make some? I'll tell you how...

What You’ll Need:

1/2 pound (that’s 2 sticks, phattie) softened unsalted butter, softened
6 oz softened cream cheese

(oh, and don’t soften these in the microwave, you’ll just melt them into liquid. Just leave them out until they soften, or even on top of your oven—just remember to put them on a dish!)

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

about half a cup sugar
about 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Raspberry or apricot jam/preserves (just make sure the first two ingredients are fruit and sugar, anything else will be a big, leaky mess)
Raisins
Chocolate Chips
Ground walnuts


What You’ll Do:

In your mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until they’re blended well (about 15-25 seconds).

Add the flour all at once, and beat it all on low until the dough just starts to come together (should be no more than 20 seconds)

Take the dough out of the bowl, divide into thirds. Shape each third into a flat circle (about 6 inches). Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put in fridge for an hour (you can keep it there up to a week, actually).

Get a few baking sheets ready with Silpats. I highly recommend using one, because these suckers get sticky.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl to make—wait for it—cinnamon sugar! I usually eyeball the measurements. Now, get your work area ready with a place to roll out the dough, your baking sheet ready on one side and your jam, nuts, chocolate chips, raisins and cinn-sugar handy on the other side, or nearby.

Take one disk out of the fridge and roll it out on a well-floured surface until it’s really thin (about 1/8 inch), in the shape of a circle (about 12-14 inches across). Spread a thin layer of jam on the surface of the dough (just remember to leave a ¼-inch border around the edge). Sprinkle entire surface with your nuts, chocolate chips, raisins and cinn-sugar. Cut into wedges like pizza, either 8 slices or 16 or anywhere in between, depending on what size you like. Starting from the outside, roll each “slice” in, and then move then to the baking sheet.

You can also roll the dough out into a rectangle: spread the jam on surface, put the other fillins’ in a life along one edge, roll it into a cylinder and cut into mini logs. But I like the cool shape and look of the crescents.

Once they’re on the baking sheet, sprinkle each cookie with a little cinnamon-sugar. Bake on upper rack (top 1/3 of oven) in a 350 degree oven until light golden (tops will still be blonde), about 25-30 minutes. Take out, let the pan cool a bit so the rugelach firm a bit, and then move them to a cooling rack.

Eat.



Mmmm…will you just look at that gooey, flaky goodness of everything that is good in the world?