Grandma's Rugelach Recipe
This traditional Rugelach is a must-have cookie for Holiday gatherings. With a tangy, cream cheese dough and rich, nutty filling, Grandma's Rugelach recipe is a keeper!
Ingredients
For the nut filling:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1-1/2 lb ground walnuts or pecans*
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
For the dough
- 1 lb cream cheese softened
- 1 lb unsalted butter softened
- 4-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- confectioner’s sugar** sifted for rolling, icing
Instructions
- To make the nut filling, add the milk, butter and sugar to a medium saucepan.
- Bring the pan to a boil over medium heat and add the ground nuts.
- Stir the nut mixture constantly and cook until it is thick, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla. Cool the nut filling and use it to fill cookies, pastries and breads.
- While the nut filling is cooling, make the dough: Add the cream cheese and butter to the mixer bowl and beat with the flat beater on Speed 4 until smooth. Turn the machine to Stir and gradually add in the flour and salt, mixing until a dough forms.
- Divide the dough into 8 disks and refrigerate them wrapped in plastic wrap for 1 hour. If the dough rests in the refrigerator overnight it can rest on the counter for 30 minutes before rolling to soften it up a bit.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, sprinkle 1 tbsp (15 mL) or more of the confectioner’s (icing) sugar over the work surface.
- Lay one of the disks of dough on the work surface and sprinkle the top with the confectioner’s sugar.
- Roll the disk into a 10-inch (25 cm) round.
- Spread 1/2-cup of the cooled nut filling thinly over the round.
- Using a pastry wheel or a sharp knife, cut the round into 8 wedges. Beginning at the large end of each wedge, roll the cookie towards the small pointed end.
- Lay the cookies as they are shaped 2-inches (5 cm) apart onto parchment lined sheet pans.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Notes
* You can also use a mixture of the two nuts.
**Confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) tends to clump. It is very important to sift it before using.
**Confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) tends to clump. It is very important to sift it before using.