Rugelach is one of those cookies that I don’t see very often but whenever I do, I have to try it. It’s one of my absolute favorite cookies. I know I say that about a lot of cookies, but to be fair I have a sweet tooth and cookies and coffee are my weakness! Raspberry Walnut Rugelach are my weakness.
I’m usually good after one or two cookies, but with these I could easily polish off a whole plate. These are small cookies so it’s not hard for anyone to do! They are crisp, buttery, flaky, and filled with sweet jam and crunchy nuts.
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Rugelach originated in the Jewish communities of Poland. Traditionally were made into crescent shapes but I’ve seen ones that are rolled into a log. I prefer the crescent shape because the edges get crispy while the inside is still soft.
How to make rugelach
Rugelach may look hard to make but really they are just made out of a few components. The cream cheese and butter dough is unsweetened and slightly tangy. Somehow with a few simple ingredients you end up with a flaky and crispy dough.
Once the dough is chilled, roll it out and add the filling. Raspberry jam and walnuts is my favorite, but you can switch up the jam or nuts if you like. I used raspberry freezer jam, which I made using my freezer jam recipe.
I always use walnuts, but I imagine pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds would also be delicious. Don’t like nuts? Feel free to leave them out and add dried fruit or chocolate instead.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese then add the flour
3. Once the flour is incorporated divide dough into 4 pieces
4. Place dough on plastic wrap and flatten
Roll the pieces up and then place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon sugar on top for a little extra sweetness. It’s as simple as that!
Tips for homemade rugelach
Make the dough the day before you want to bake your cookies, it needs to be well chilled before rolling. Otherwise the dough is quite sticky and would be impossible to work with.
6. Filling ingredients
7. Lightly coat chilled dough with flour and roll out on a lightly floured surface
8. Place jam on dough
Once you are ready to roll the dough, make sure you have enough flour on your surface so it won’t stick. I like to pick up the dough and rotate it as I’m rolling to ensure it’s not sticking.
Don’t worry if your dough is not a perfect circle, mine never are and they still turn out great. It makes them look homemade and rustic!
These are simple cookies so you want to make sure you are using the best ingredients. I recommend a good quality jam as the filling is the most prominent flavor.
10. Sprinkle with nuts and cinnamon sugar
11. Cut into 16 wedges
12. Start rolling from the outside
You want your nuts to be chopped fairly fine, so they will be evenly distributed in the filling. Since these are fairly small cookies, it leads to a better ratio in the cookies as well.
You can easily adjust the sweetness of these cookies based on how much cinnamon sugar you add to the filling. I prefer mine to be a little less sweet, so I tend to use less cinnamon sugar. You can store cinnamon sugar in an empty spice jar with a shaker to easily sprinkle the sugar over the dough.
14. Rolled cookie
15. Place point side down on a prepared baking sheet
16. Baked cookies
To spread out the jam, I like to use an offset spatula (not necessary but very handy). I also prefer to use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into triangles. A sharp knife would work perfectly fine as well, it’s just fun finding another use for a pizza cutter.
The rugelach dough can be made ahead of time and frozen for up to 3 months or baked cookies can be frozen up to one month. I like to freeze my dough ahead of time during the holidays so I can just roll and bake cookies when needed.
Have you tried Raspberry Walnut Rugelach? What’s your favorite type of rugelach?
More holiday recipes to try
Pumpkin Pie Bars with Shortbread Crust
Made this recipe? Be sure to comment below and rate the recipe. I’d love to hear what you thought about it!
Raspberry Walnut Rugelach
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts, or nut of your choice
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup raspberry jam, or jam of your choice
Instructions
Make the dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand held mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until well blended together.
- Add in 1/2 of the flour and mix until incorporated, then add in the remaining flour and mix until fully incorporated. Scraping down the sides as needed. The dough will be soft and sticky, but don't add any additional flour.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces (I just like to roughly divide it in the dough with a rubber spatula) and place each piece of dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Fold over half of the plastic wrap and press down into a 1-inch thick circle. Then wrap up with the remaining plastic wrap.
- Continue until you have all of the dough wrapped. Place in the fridge to chill overnight.
Making the rugelach
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon together.
- Lightly coat your dough circle with flour and on a lightly floured surface (I like to use parchment paper), roll out one disk of dough to a 11-inch circle. Use more flour as necessary as you don't want the dough to stick to your surface.
- Spread 1/4 cup of raspberry jam over the surface of the dough and sprinkle on about 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Sprinkle on 1/4 cup of the chopped walnuts.
- Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut each circle into 16 wedges. Roll up each wedge starting from the outer edge in towards the middle.
- Once rolled, place on the prepared sheet pan with the point side down. Continue rolling the remaining rugelach until you have enough to fill your pan. Once the pan is filled, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar over the rolled rugelach. (I like to keep extra cinnamon sugar in an empty spice jar with a shaker top)
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Rotate the tray 1/2 through baking. Transfer to a wire cooling rack once they come out of the oven to cool completely.
Notes
- I’ve used both regular cream cheese and light cream cheese for the dough, I’ve never noticed a difference so you can use what you prefer.
- My favorite combination for these have always been raspberry jam and walnuts, however you can customize this to whatever jam and nut combination you like.
- You can freeze the dough for up to 3 month or freeze any extra baked cookies.
- These cookies are not overly sweet, but that depends on how sweet your jam is. If you want your cookies a little sweeter, you can increase the cinnamon sugar in the filling to 1/2 cup.
Recipe adapted from KraftIf you make any of my recipes, be sure to tag me on Instagram @amysdeliciousmess and use #amysdeliciousmess. I’d love to see all of your pictures!
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My first time ever making rugelach because I thought it was too difficult to make. But Amy convinced me to try! I love rugelach, it’s my favorite cookie. Not only was it fairly easy to make, they turned out so light and flaky and delicious !! I omitted the raspberry jam because, well, I just don’t like it, lol. So i made just a walnut filling. Thanks Amy for your help !!
I’m so happy to hear this Kathleen! I’m glad you tried making the rugelach and enjoyed them!!