Rugelach are crescent-shaped cookies, traditionally served for Hanukkah, but the rich cream cheese dough and variety of possible fillings make this a delicious any-holiday cookie recipe.
I found this recipe in Ina Garten’s, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, and decided to bake a gluten-free version and compare it with the regular version. The gluten-free dough is a bit harder to work with, lacking gluten, which gives it that nice elasticity. The GF version wasn’t as pretty, since it tended to crack while rolling into crescents. But when the family did a taste test, with both cookies side-by-side, no one could tell the difference! I use Jeanne, from The Art of Gluten-Free Baking‘s flour blend. 
I used the bottom of my 9″ springform pan for a visual, trimmed the overhanging bits and patched where needed. 
Spread the circle with jam and filling, lightly press filling into dough. I used the bottom of a measuring cup. Cut circle into 12 pieces, starting from the biggest end, roll wedge toward center, tucking under point.
I hope you enjoy the rugelach cookie recipe!
Rugelach
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 8 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup sugar plus 9 tablespoons
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or Gluten Free flour mix
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon divided
- 1 cup walnuts finely chopped
- 1/2 cup apricot preserves pureed in a food processor
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash
Instructions
- Cream the cheese and the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, salt and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined.
- Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut into quarters, roll each into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- To make filling, combine 6 tablespoons sugar, brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and walnuts in a small bowl.
- On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons of apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press filling lightly into the dough.
- Cut circle into 12 equal wedges. Starting with wide edge, roll up each wedge.
- Place cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brush each cookie with egg wash. Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.
You can freeze the cookies, unbaked, well wrapped. Defrost for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet before baking.
Cinnamon Walnut Rugelach.
Jasmine | The Gluten Free Scallywag says
Oh my, these look so delicious and rather delicate! Love the pastry mix. Bookmarked/Pinned/Whatever 🙂
Cynthia says
Jasmine, great thanks!
malahat kanyar says
I like cooking
Peggy says
Oh…..these look yummy. Looking at these gave me an idea. Use Baklava filling!
Cynthia says
Good idea Peggy!
Cathy | She Paused 4 Thought says
I was looking for an excuse to make Rugelach and your recipe just gave me one. I have never made them before, so I am excited to try this.
Christina says
I haven’t made rugelach in YEARS! I have tons of jam and think I will make these and fill them with jam instead of the cinnamon sugar 🙂
Megan Keno {Country Cleaver} says
*Mouth watering*
Cynthia says
thank you Megan!
Maris (In Good Taste) says
These sound delicious! Thanks for the great recipe
Cynthia says
Thank you Maris!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Love these! So delicious with the apricot preserves!
Sharon says
So, did you actually make them? How did they turn out? Any similarity to “real” ruggelah?
Cynthia says
Sharon, yes I made both the gluten free and regular version. You can see in my step-by-step photos how to make them. They are delicious. I think anyone who tastes them would be hard pressed to tell the difference!
Cynthia says
Thank you Kimberly!
The Food Hunter says
these have always been a favorite cookie of mine but I have actually never made them myself.
Cynthia says
I love them! I make them every year for christmas too!
Matt @ Plating Pixels says
Cream cheese dough? Now I’m intrigued. This would be perfect for a party!
Cynthia says
The cream cheese dough is what sets this cookie apart from an ordinary cookie! They really are delicious Matt!
Brandon @ Kitchen Konfidence says
These look so tasty! I’d love a plate of them with a nice hot cup of coffee 🙂
Cynthia says
Absolutely Brandon!
fabiola@notjustbaked says
I LOVE this recipe! I used to make these in a bakery where I worked, they are just too good.
Cynthia says
Great holiday cookie too Fabiola!
Beth says
I should make these!! It’s been years since I had a crescent roll!!
Cheryl says
I used to make rugelach every holiday season as a kid and really enjoyed the process. Now that I try to eat gluten free as an adult, I was very excited to try this recipe. I’ve cooked and baked my whole life, so I know how to follow a recipe (which I did), but this recipe was extremely sticky and not at all roll-able. 🙁 I was afraid to add enough flour to make the dough come together/roll-able because it would have required a great deal more than the recipe called for and I was concerned it would make the end product too dry. So, against my better judgement, I chilled the dough as it was and hoped it would become more roll-able once chilled thoroughly. After chilling overnight, I placed the dough on the counter for a short while to relax, then tried to roll it out. I placed 1/4 of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and rolled to a beautiful circle. Yay! However, I could hardly remove the top paper without ripping apart the dough and, once I did accomplish that, I realized the dough was just mushed to the bottom paper. There was no rolling it like a proper rugelach. I was so sad. I’ll see if I can use the dough for some other type of cookie because this just won’t work. 🙁
Cynthia says
Hi Cheryl, thanks for taking the time to give me feed back. As I said in my notes that it’s definitely more difficult to work with the gluten free dough than the regular dough. I’m sorry that they did not turn out for you. So many factors can affect baking. I’m wondering what
kind of gluten free flour you used, and if that could have affected it? I usually use Jeanne’s #GF flour blend, as I find that it most resembles “real” flour. On occasion, I’ve used Bob’s #GF flour, or another blend, and found that my baked goods did not taste nearly as good,
and the dough was harder to work with. Hope this helps.
Dayna says
I had similar results to Cheryl, using cup 4 cup. The dough was nearly impossible to roll and shape. I have ugly Christmas sweater versions of the cookie 😉 but they are scrumptious! Had much more success using 2 layers of dough with filling in the middle, cut into fingers.
Bethany says
Oh, yum! These look so good!
Thank you for linking up to my Gluten Free Christmas Treat link up!
Andrea says
OMG!!!!!! Just made these today and they are to die for!!!! First batch were awkward, the rest were beautiful, and the dough is soft and delicious!!! Thank you!!!
Cynthia says
So happy Andrea! did you try the #GF version or the regular? The #GF recipe is a much trickier dough to work with.
Catherine says
Dear Cynthia, I love rugelach. These look absolutely delightful! I haven’t had rugelach in so long…I would love one right now with my tea. xo, Catherine
Sandi (@fearless_dining) says
These cookies bring back so many great memories. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Chrissie says
Do you put the egg wash on them before you freeze them?
Cynthia says
No Chrissie, I would put the egg wash on just before you’re ready to bake them. (sorry for the late response, I’ve been out of the country)
Janet says
Love the taste but not so good at the rolling.
Cynthia says
If you start with a ball and then just work outward, it shouldn’t be to difficult.