Yes, it’s me! I’m back with a new recipe after taking a break from the blog for the past, oh I don’t know, 9 months? But time flies when you feel like you just want to devote posting anything new strictly to Instagram as well as attempting to make Reels that will appeal to Gen Z. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then I envy you greatly and let’s just all be thrilled that I have something new in this corner of the internet.
Another reason why I’ve been a bit pre-occupied is because I’m pregnant (!) and expecting a baby girl by the end of the year - she may have the same birthday as me or might even be a New Year’s Eve baby. I’m almost in my third trimester, which is wild, but Alex and I are very happy and cannot wait to meet our girl in about 12 weeks. I luckily never had any nausea, but at the same time, I haven’t had any fun pregnancy cravings (bummer!), so my baking throughout this journey has stayed about the same. If anything, I’m cooking a lot more dinners and getting ready to prepare a ton of freezer meals for when the baby is here. Exciting information, I know.
Anyway! Today’s recipe is one that is very near and dear to me simply because it’s literally one of my favorite things to eat in the whole world, and I cannot believe I hadn’t posted a recipe for it yet. The recipe is for rugelach, a popular Jewish pastry, that is essentially a cookie made out of a buttery, cream cheese dough that is filled with either jams, chocolate, nuts, dried fruits, or a combination of all of these. My go-to flavors when I visit a Jewish bakery are either apricot jam, cinnamon or chocolate filled, but honestly, I love them all and have yet to try a flavor that I didn’t enjoy. Although we’re not Jewish, my mom, sister and I all have a huge love for Jewish pastries, including babka, danishes, macaroons, and sufganiyah, so rugelach is something that I’ve happily eaten for years. Although I think it’s just about the best pastry in the world, not everyone knows about them, especially those who aren’t Jewish and I think that’s just about a crime. When I first started dating Alex. I had asked if he had ever tried them and he thought I was asking him about “arugula”, which still to this day makes me laugh.
Unlike chocolate chip cookies where you portion out scoops of cookie dough to bake off, rugelach is kind of treated like a pie dough in that it is formed into a disc and then is rolled out and shaped into either crescent or rectangular spirals. For this recipe, I chose to make crescents which are formed by rolling the dough into a very thin - about 1/8th of an inch thick - circle. That’s about 10 inches in diameter, if you have a ruler lying around. Rugelach dough at first is very sticky and therefore needs to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours before rolling it out and shaping it, but I prefer just leaving it in the fridge overnight.
When it comes to rolling out the dough, don’t worry about making a *perfect* circle; I definitely don’t excel at rolling out doughs and usually end up with wonky edges and some cracks, but trust me when I say, it’ll still taste perfect in the end. Same goes for the filling and rolling of each individual cookie: some of the filling might “spill” out and even leak when baking in the oven, but that is totally normal and actually a good thing because it leads to a caramelized bottom that tastes amazing. I have made rugelach numerous times, and it’s rare that I get uniform cookies and that’s the beauty of them; each one is unique and has its own rustic look to it. Bottom line: rugelach is a very forgiving recipe and you shouldn’t be concerned with messing it up.
As for the filling, I decided that because it’s October and we’re starting to get cozy vibes here in California (I’m joking, it’s 77° and sunny here today), I wanted to put an autumn-spin on these. Instead of doing a simple raspberry or apricot jam, I chose to use apple butter, which is pretty much applesauce that is more cooked down and caramelized, as well as a mix of toasted chopped pecans/walnuts, sugar and cinnamon. It’s a fairly simple flavor combination, but tastes incredible and makes the whole house smell like fall when it’s baking in the oven. You can choose to make your own apple butter (here’s a link to my own recipe) or you can save yourself some time and buy it at the market. Another option would be to use pumpkin butter instead, which I’m fairly certain Trader Joe’s is selling right now. But feel free to save this recipe for the rugelach dough base and use any filling as you please in the future!
APPLE BUTTER RUGELACH
Makes 24 rugelach - recipe can easily be doubled
Ingredients
For the dough:
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
For the filling:
1/2 cup apple butter, homemade or store bought
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans or walnuts
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
To finish:
1 lrg. egg mixed w/ 1 tsp. water (egg wash)
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Directions
Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer) cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth, about a minute or two. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Mix to combine. With the mixer on low, slowly add in the flour and mix until incorporated. Turn off the mixer and transfer the sticky dough to a floured surface and shape it into a ball. Cut the dough in half and shape each half into about an inch thick disc and wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least four hours, but preferably overnight.
Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, combine the chopped nuts, sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
Take one of the chilled doughs out of the fridge, unwrap it, and place it on a floured surface. Allow it to soften a bit for 5-10 minutes for easier rolling. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into about a 10-inch circle (does not need to be perfect!), which will be about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Spread half (1/4 cup) of the apple butter on the dough, leaving about 1/4in. border all around, and then spread half of the nut/sugar mixture over the apple butter.
Using a pizza/pastry cutter or sharp knife (I prefer the former), cut the circle into 12 even triangles. Roll each triangle into a crescent by starting at the wider edge and working your way toward the center (narrow side). Place each rugelach crescent on a parchment-lined baking sheet, with the crescent points facing down. Pop the baking sheet in the fridge while you work on the second dough disc.
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp. of sugar and 3/4 tsp. of cinnamon - this is for finishing the rugelach. Take out the first set of rugelach from the fridge and brush each cookie with the egg wash and then give a generous sprinkling of the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Bake in the oven for 22-28 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat steps 3-5 for the second dough disc*.
* I like to work on the second disc of dough while the first batch of rugelach is in the oven. Chill this dough for at least 10 minutes before popping it in the oven.