Cinnamon-Walnut Rugelach
By Mark HuxsollPublished on October 28, 2020
Time
2 hours, plus 1 hour 20 minutes chilling and cooling
Yield
Serves 8 (Makes 32 cookies)
Ingredients
Before You Begin
The demerara sugar adds a nice crunch to these rugelach, but they are still great without it. If you have packets of Sugar in the Raw at home, you can use those in place of the demerara. When brushing the rugelach with the egg wash, brush only a few cookies at a time and then sprinkle them with the demerara sugar immediately. If you brush the egg wash onto all the rugelach at once, it will begin to dry by the time you get to the last rugelach, and the sugar won’t stick.
Instructions
- Process flour, granulated sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt in food processor until combined, about 3 seconds. Add cream cheese and pulse until large, irregularly sized chunks of cream cheese form with some small pieces interspersed throughout, about 5 pulses. Scatter butter over top and pulse until butter is size of large peas, 5 to 7 pulses.
- Add sour cream and process until dough forms little clumps that hold together when pinched with your fingers (dough will look crumbly), about 10 seconds.
- Transfer dough to clean counter and knead briefly until dough just comes together, about 3 turns. Divide dough in half (each piece should weigh about 11 ounces or 312 grams) and form each piece into 4-inch disk. Wrap disks individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
- Meanwhile, pulse walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in food processor until finely ground, about 20 pulses; set aside.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll 1 dough disk into 12-inch circle on lightly floured counter. Sprinkle half of walnut mixture evenly over entire surface of circle. Using pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut through center of circle to form 16 equal wedges. Starting at wide edge of each wedge, roll dough toward point and transfer to prepared sheet, seam side down.
- Wipe counter clean, dust counter with additional flour, and repeat with remaining dough disk and remaining walnut mixture. Arrange rugelach in 8 rows of four on sheet.
- Working with few rugelach at a time, brush tops with egg wash, then sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on sheet, about 20 minutes. Serve.
Time
2 hours, plus 1 hour 20 minutes chilling and coolingYield
Serves 8 (Makes 32 cookies)Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
Rugelach, sweet rolled cookies popular in Jewish bakeries around the world, come in two distinct varieties. The first is built on a yeasted dough and most often found in Israel and among Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish communities in many countries. The second version, the one we chose to emulate for this recipe, is made from a dough that’s highly enriched with cream cheese and is much more common in the United States. We wanted a rugelach dough that was rich, supple, and easy to roll out and had a mellow, buttery sweet- ness along with the mild tang of cream cheese. We used the food processor to make easy work of cutting the butter and cream cheese into the flour, and then we brought the dough together with a final addition of sour cream, further enhancing the dough’s tanginess. To shape our rugelach, we rolled the dough flat into circles; spread on a simple, delicious cinnamon-walnut filling; and then used a pizza wheel to cut the circle into wedges. Rolling the wedges beginning with the wide ends created adorable little croissant-shaped cookies. A finishing touch of egg wash and demerara sugar applied just before baking imparted a gorgeous sheen and a sweet, crunchy textural contrast to these golden treats.
Before You Begin
The demerara sugar adds a nice crunch to these rugelach, but they are still great without it. If you have packets of Sugar in the Raw at home, you can use those in place of the demerara. When brushing the rugelach with the egg wash, brush only a few cookies at a time and then sprinkle them with the demerara sugar immediately. If you brush the egg wash onto all the rugelach at once, it will begin to dry by the time you get to the last rugelach, and the sugar won’t stick.
Instructions
- Process flour, granulated sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt in food processor until combined, about 3 seconds. Add cream cheese and pulse until large, irregularly sized chunks of cream cheese form with some small pieces interspersed throughout, about 5 pulses. Scatter butter over top and pulse until butter is size of large peas, 5 to 7 pulses.
- Add sour cream and process until dough forms little clumps that hold together when pinched with your fingers (dough will look crumbly), about 10 seconds.
- Transfer dough to clean counter and knead briefly until dough just comes together, about 3 turns. Divide dough in half (each piece should weigh about 11 ounces or 312 grams) and form each piece into 4-inch disk. Wrap disks individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
- Meanwhile, pulse walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in food processor until finely ground, about 20 pulses; set aside.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll 1 dough disk into 12-inch circle on lightly floured counter. Sprinkle half of walnut mixture evenly over entire surface of circle. Using pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut through center of circle to form 16 equal wedges. Starting at wide edge of each wedge, roll dough toward point and transfer to prepared sheet, seam side down.
- Wipe counter clean, dust counter with additional flour, and repeat with remaining dough disk and remaining walnut mixture. Arrange rugelach in 8 rows of four on sheet.
- Working with few rugelach at a time, brush tops with egg wash, then sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on sheet, about 20 minutes. Serve.
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