Today, we're showing you how to make a sweet filling of brown sugar, raisins, and cinnamon with the addition of walnuts for crunchy texture. Butter and cream cheese are the two key ingredients to a soft and flakey rugelach dough that begs for the unique combination of fillings you see fit.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt and pulse to mix.
Add the cold butter and cream cheese to the food processor and pulse until the mixture is broken down into pea-sized pieces.
Add the egg yolk and mix just until combined. The dough should be crumbly, but hold together if you squeeze it in the palm of your hand.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together into a ball.
Divide into four sections, wrapping each section with plastic wrap and pressing into a disc.
Refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours until firm.
Filling Instructions
Add all of the filling ingredients into the bowl of the food processor. Process until the nuts and raisins are broken down into very small pieces and the mixture is combined.
Assembly Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Working with one chilled disc of dough at a time, roll the disc out on a sheet of parchment paper to form a 10” circle.
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar (about 1⁄4 cup for each disc of dough) on your work surface - spread it enough that your 10” circle of dough can set on top of it.
Place the dough on the cinnamon sugar and press down gently to help the cinnamon sugar stick to the bottom side of the dough.
Sprinkle 1⁄4 of the filling over the top of the dough, spreading it out evenly, leaving a bit of space around the edges.
Cut into 8 wedges like you are cutting a pizza.
Starting at the outer edge, roll the wedge in to form a crescent roll shaped cookie.
Place the cookies 1” apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 22-25 minutes until cookies are light brown.
Notes
Chill the dough well. Keeping the butter cold helps make flakey, pastry layers in the dough when it bakes.
You can use parchment paper or plastic wrap to roll out the dough discs. They will be cold and firm at first, so put a little muscle into it. It’s best to keep them cold and maintain a firm dough while rolling up the rugelach. Sometimes, the parchment paper bunches under the dough while rolling. I like to flip my dough over a couple times while rolling it out so I can straighten the paper and prevent deep lines in the dough. However, even if you have some lines in the dough, it will be pressed into the cinnamon sugar and won’t show.
You can vary the size of the rugelach. Divide the dough into just 3 sections and then roll out into a larger circle if you’d like.