Dorie Greenspan's Rugelach
Ingredients
- For the dough
- For the filling
- For the glaze
Directions
Let the cream cheese and butter rest on the counter for 10 minutes — you want them to be slightly softened but still cool. Put the flour and salt in a food processor, scatter over the chunks of cream cheese and butter, and pulse the machine 6 to 10 times. Then process, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, just until the dough forms large curds — don’t work it so long that it forms a ball on the blade.
Turn the dough out, gather it into a ball, and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disk, wrap the disks in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day. (Wrapped airtight, the dough can be frozen for up to 2 months.)
Heat the jam in a saucepan over low heat, or do this in a microwave, until it liquefies. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.
Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. (Silicone baking mats are great for rugelach.)
Pull one packet of dough from the refrigerator. If it is too firm to roll easily, either leave it on the counter for about 10 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an 11-to-12-inch circle. Spoon (or brush) a thin gloss of jam over the dough and sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar. Scatter half of the nuts, half of the currants, and half of the chopped chocolate over the dough. Cover the filling with a piece of wax paper and gently press the filling into the dough, then remove the paper and save it for the next batch.
Using a pizza wheel or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 16 wedges, or triangles. (The easiest way to do this is to cut the dough into quarters, then to cut each quarter into 4 triangles.) Starting at the base of each triangle, roll the dough up so that each cookie becomes a little crescent. Arrange the roll-ups on one baking sheet, making sure the points are tucked under the cookies, and refrigerate. Repeat with the second packet of dough, and refrigerate the cookies for at least 30 minutes before baking. (The cookies can be covered and refrigerated overnight or frozen for up to 2 months; don’t defrost before baking, just add a couple of minutes to the baking time.)
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Stir the egg and water together, and brush a bit of this glaze over each rugelach. Sprinkle the cookies with the sugar.
Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until they are puffed and golden. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool to just warm or to room temperature.
Recipe Testers' Reviews
Have you ever tried a Dorie Greenspan recipe that wasn’t delicious? The dough was super easy to work with and her suggestions on what to fill the rugelach with allowed a lot of flexibility. I tended to veer away from her suggested jams (I used apple butter) and fillings (I used raisins), based on what I had in my cupboard. The results were yummy, to say the least.
Disclaimer: Though Leite's recipe tests are 'blind', without information about the writer or cookbook they're published in, I have to confess that I instantly recognized these as "my" cookies. These flaky, elegant crescents have been on my holiday tray yearly over the last decade, and I always ask myself why they're relegated to special occasions.
For this recipe test, I was very excited to make them again - and I was prepared for no surprises. Surprise! The addition of weight measures, as well as the subtly rewritten directions, have improved the ease and clarity of the recipe. There is literally no question you might have that isn't clarified in the text: timing of food processor mixing was exact, with accurate descriptors of the dough; preparing for filling and rolling circles of dough fully prepares you to spread, sprinkle, and roll; and the pointers and side notes answer all the what-ifs.
I was operating with a limited pantry, so my filling was orange marmalade, cinnamon sugar, finely chopped almonds, and minced golden raisins (no chocolate). I appreciated the instruction to press the filling into the dough with wax paper, but not having any on hand, I sprinkled my almonds on, then hit it real quick with the rolling pin before dabbing with jam, raisins, and sugar. No eggs in my fridge - so I took a hint from vegan baking, and used the 'aquafaba' (bean-cooking liquid) for brushing instead, which browned nicely and velcroed the coarse sugar well. Bake time was 25 minutes for me for golden pastry, and I removed fairly immediately to a rack, leaving any bitter, overbrowned jam on the baking sheet. Oh, and the end result? Flawless.
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For years I’ve used the same recipe (Ina Garten) and this year I tried Dorie’s. The big difference is no sugar in the dough and half the cream cheese. The dough is easier to work with. They came out perfectly and the idea of raw or coarse sugar was inspired. They were easier to roll into crescents which has always been a bit of a challenge. I baked them frozen and yes, they took a little longer, but kept their shape better.
Ellen, those look amazing!!!!
These were delicious and very simple to make. The filling was also wonderful; I like that it had a little bit of everything – jam, chocolate, nuts, cinnamon. I didn’t shape into crescents, though. Just rolled into a log, filled, and sliced into cookies. Definitely a recipe that will be repeated!
You can never go wrong with a Dorie recipe, right, Iris?! (Or, for that matter, with any of our recipes, since we test them over and over again in our home kitchens prior to deciding if they’re spectacular enough to share on our site. We actually don’t publish close to half the recipes we test because they’re not sufficiently magnificent.) So happy to hear this recipe found a home in your cookie repertoire. Love that you took a shortcut and appreciate you taking the time to share your trick with us! Wishing you and yours all the magic of the season…