Rugelach is now a ubiquitous cookie in our culture. Is it a cookie or a pastry? The name does not matter. The taste does. And the texture.
We think of rugelach as a Jewish treat. It is, but — according to Gil Marks in the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food — the origin is central Europe. There, a crescent shaped treat, called a Kipfel, was made from yeasted dough. Jews adopted a pareve version for their Sabbath and holidays.
We don’t know where the name “rugelach” even comes from. It may be Yiddish or Slavic or even a Yiddishized contraction of the English terms “rolled things.” The word rugelach does not appear in cookbooks until 1941. There the dough is yeasted but enriched with sour cream.
By 1950, there was the beginning of a transition and the dough was being made with cream cheese. In his book, Gil Marks offers a cream cheese dough, and that’s the recipe that follows here. I compared recipes from seven sources:
- Gil Marks: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food
- Maida Heatter: Book of Great Cookies
- Rosie’s Bakery Chocolate-Packed, Jam-Filled, Butter-Rich Cookie Book [two doughs!]
- Ina Garten: Food Network
- Allrecipes.com
- Dorie Greenspan: Dorie’s Cookies
All the recipes use butter. In addition, some use only sour cream, some only cream cheese, and some use everything. Gil’s recipe is everything and I suspect richer for the effort.
What to fill the rugelach with? I’m a purist, just a mixture of granulated sugar and cinnamon. Most recipes call for nut or nuts and raisins. And most recipe suggest a generous amount of jam. I grew up on just sugar + cinnamon. I leave it to you to mix and match the filling to your pleasure. With enough dough, you can offer up a tray with two or three varieties of filling.
Rugelach has traveled far from Central Europe over the centuries and become a favorite for all culture. One bit of that lovely dough will tell you why.
Rugelach
Yield: 32 large or 48 medium or 64 small cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookie:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
- 1 cup (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- ½ A teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional)
- 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour, sifted
For the filling:
- 1 cup jam [apricot or raspberry] OR ¼ cup [½ stick] melted butter
- ½ cup sugar mixed with 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup dried currants or raisins
- Egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water or milk)
- About 2 tablespoons sugar, or 2 tablespoons mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon) for sprinkling
Preparation:
To make the dough: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, and sour cream until and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the salt and, if using, the sugar and vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, form into balls, flatten into 1-inch-thick rounds, wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or use ungreased sheets.
Let the dough stand at room temperature until malleable. On a lightly floured surface (or a surface sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar), roll out each piece to a ⅛-inch-thick round, about 9 inches in diameter. Brush with jam and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, leaving a ½ -inch border around the edge using, sprinkle with the currants.
Cut each round into equal wedges—12 for medium cookies, 8 for large cookies, or 16 for small cookies. Starting from the wide end, roll up the wedges to the point and gently bend to form a crescent.
Place the crescents on the prepared baking sheet pointed side down, 1 inch apart. Brush with the wash and sprinkle lightly with the sugar.
Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the cookies stand until firm, about 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Source: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food by Gil Marks [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010]
[I found this photo at gjcookies.com, a cookie resource for us all. That’s Gimmee Jimmey’s Cookies! Suzi and I are making our own this weekend. I’ll let you know if they are this pretty.]