Rugelach Recipe

These Rugelach Cookies are incredibly flaky and delicious filled with your favorite jam, pecans and finally dusted with some powdered sugar! They’re perfect for your holiday cookie spread or even to treat yourself any time of the year!

The Best Rugelach Recipe

There really isn’t a Christmas that goes by without these rugelach cookies on the table. I always have to make at least a double batch because everyone from my family expects them! Usually, I start baking cookies in November, freeze them, and when Christmas comes I package them up and give them to friends and family. Everyone loves them!

But you don’t have to limit yourself to just the holidays to enjoy rugelach. Treat yourself any time of the year to these buttery, flaky and perfectly sweetened delights. They’re also easy and so much fun to make!

Rugelach Cookies Highlights

Easy To Make. That’s right, this dough is super easy to make. You don’t need any fancy equipment, no food processor or mixer needed. All you need are your hands and a couple forks.

Sugar Free Dough. This is my favorite part of this cookie. There’s absolutely no sugar in the dough. Just flour, salt, butter, sour cream and a bit of vanilla. But don’t worry, they are still sweet. I love to fill these with strawberry or cherry jam, lots of crushed pecans and for extra sweetness I love to sprinkle them with lots of powdered sugar.

Simple Ingredients. You probably have all these wonderful ingredients in your pantry already, so no special trip to the grocery store needed. No pecans? No problem, use a different nut or any jam you want. You can even fill these with chocolate or Nutella. For something fun, different and delicious, try my Poppy Seed Rugelach!

Light And Flaky. The little crescent rolled pastries are incredibly light and flaky. The butter and the sour cream are the secret to this buttery and flaky dough.

Perfect For The Holidays. These rugelach cookies are something I grew up with during the holidays. My mom never baked much while we kids were growing up, but these cookies are one of the few things she did make. She would get the pastry ready, then let us go nuts with spreading the jam and rolling the cookies in powdered sugar. This is such a fun recipe to make with your kids!

Can Be Made In Advance. Like I said, I bake these weeks in advance and freeze them in an airtight container until Christmas. They’re still just as fresh and nobody will know you didn’t just bake them.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Flour – I always use all-purpose flour for these cookies.
• Salt – Believe me, salt makes all the difference, so don’t skip this!
• Butter – I like to use unsalted butter, but you can use salted and take the extra salt out of the recipe. Butter will make our cookies extra flaky.
• Sour cream – This is what also aids in the flakiness of our cookie. You can substitute with plain Greek yogurt.
• Vanilla extract – If you have vanilla paste in your pantry rather than extract that’ll work too. Vanilla is also essential to cookies as it brings out all the flavors and makes our cookie taste that much better.
• Jam – Find a jam that is nice and smooth to make spreading easier. Feel free to use your favorite jam such as apricot preserves, strawberry jam, grape jelly, etc. You can even just fill these with a cinnamon and brown sugar filling.
• Pecans – You can use walnuts, almonds, pistachios, or any of your favorite nuts.
• Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioner’s or icing sugar.

How to Make Rugelach

Make The Dough By Hand

Add the flour and butter to a large bowl. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until it forms pea-sized pieces. Gently stir in the sour cream and vanilla, just until the dough holds together. Turn the bowl out onto a flour surface and give the dough a quick knead. Divide it in 3 pieces, wrap each piece with plastic, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Make The Dough Using A Food Processor

Add the flour, salt and butter to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse a few times to combine or until it forms pea-sized pieces. Add the sour cream and vanilla to the bowl and pulse until the dough forms big chunks. Turn the bowl out onto a flour surface and give the dough a quick knead. Divide it in 3 pieces, wrap each piece with plastic, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Make The Dough In A Mixer

To the bowl of your mixer add the butter, sour cream, vanilla and salt. Using the paddle attachment, beat everything until smooth. Add the flour to the mixer and mix until the dough starts holding together, it should be shaggy. Turn the bowl out onto a flour surface and give the dough a quick knead. Divide it in 3 pieces, wrap each piece with plastic, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Roll The Dough

First, preheat your oven to 375°F and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour generously over your work surface. Take one disc of the dough and unwrap it. Sprinkle some flour over your rolling pin and roll out the dough so that it’s about 10 inches in diameter.

Fill, Cut And Roll The Cookies

Spread about 2 tablespoons of jam over the rolled dough. You don’t want to add too much jam because it’s going to seep out of the cookies while baking. Next sprinkle about a quarter of the ground pecans evenly over the jam. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 wedges, like a pizza. Starting at the long, curved edge, roll each wedge, crescent style, and place the rolls point side down (so they don’t unravel) on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake The Cookies

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to fully cool. Once completely cooled, either sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar or roll them through it.

What Are Rugelach Cookies?

Rugelach cookies, pronounced “roo-gah-lah”, are mini crescent-rolled pastries with a super flakey dough usually made with cream cheese. They resemble a schnecken which is an Eastern European Jewish pastry.

My recipe, or rather my mom’s recipe, doesn’t use the traditional cream cheese. I use sour cream instead which is what gives the dough it’s flakiness.

What Else Can I Fill My Rugelach Cookies With?

You can try any type of jam you like, or even poppy seeds sweetened with honey. Other spreads like Nutella would be drool-worthy as well. Other options include cinnamon sugar, apricot preserves, raisins, white, milk, or dark chocolate, different nuts, peanut butter and jam, peanut butter and chocolate, etc.

Can I Make Rugelach Cookies In Advance?

Absolutely! Rugelach is ideal to make in advance. I’m telling you, these are the perfect cookie! Shaped, unbaked cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months, no thawing necessary! They can be baked straight from the freezer, but may need an extra few minutes to bake. You can also freeze these baked!

Expert Tips And Tricks

1. For a gluten-free option, replace the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour. Be aware that some baking ingredients can be a hidden source of gluten.
2. To make it easier to spread the jam, microwave for a few seconds it until it softens. 
3. Pecans are my favorite type of nut which is why I chose them for these cookies. You can use pistachios, almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts; the possibilities are endless! Have fun with your rugelach and get creative.
4. You can easily halve or double the recipe as you wish.

Storing Rugelach

Let your rugelach cool fully before storing them. Keep these in an airtight container or large freezer bag to prevent the cookies drying out. They will last up to 3 days at room temperature, or about a week in the fridge!

Freezing

Storing rugelach in the freezer is actually my favorite way to keep them! I like to spend a full day baking dozens of these little guys, then I’ll transfer them to an airtight container and pop them in the freezer. I’ll take them out as I need them. They’ll thaw out and be ready to eat with just 10-20 minutes at room temperature.

This rugelach recipe will last 3-4 months in the freezer.

More Related Recipes:

• Walnut Cookies
• Poppy Seed Rugelach
• Gingerbread Cookies
• Italian Peach Cookies
• Strawberry Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing