The Story

The Hanukkah season is upon us, and with that means some classic meals. Matzah ball soup. Brisket. And my favourite, rugelach.

I’ll admit that I’m a fan of pastries. Sure, cakes are great. And yes, pies are tasty. But pastries are where I have my most fun and are the desserts that I think are the best. You can pick up pastries and walk around the house with them, dropping little crumbs all over the place that you’ll subsequently have to vacuum up. You never feel bad about having “just one more”. And let me tell you, I always help myself to “just one more” rugelach.

While many recipes for rugelach dough is a cream cheese base, this one is a sour cream base. I find it makes the dough easier to deal with since it won’t be so sticky. Having a dough that is easy to deal with means that you won’t dread having to make them. We’ll also be making this in the food processor because I want to spend more time eating these than making them, and this just speeds up the whole process.

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sour cream

Filling

Apricot Jam

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Chopped Nuts (Walnuts, Pecans, whatever you like)

Granulated Sugar

Mini Chocolate Chips

Granulated Course Sugar

Egg White

The Detailed Guide

The Dough

Cut the butter into tablespoon size pieces and put in the food processor with the flour. Pulse about 6 times for 2 to 3 seconds for each pulse. You should still see little pea sized pieces of the butter. That’s good! We’re going to try to keep those.

In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk with the sour cream together. Just use a fork to mix it together. KEEP THE EGG WHITE FOR LATER. Then, add it to the flour mixture and pulse a couple more times until combined. Once again, you’ll still want to see those pieces of butter.

It’s that butter that’s going to give the pastries a nice butter and (more importantly) FLAKEY crust. 

Turn the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. It’s going to be a very dry, clumpy, and loose dough initially. That’s fine. Use the parchment paper to help it stick together and then kneed it a couple of times until it forms to a dough. Flatten it somewhat, wrap in parchment paper, and refrigerate it for several hours or overnight.

Food processor makes for quick and easy dough

Pea sized pieces of butter are the key to a tasty, flakey crust.

Fun fact – Apparently it’s acceptable to spell it both “flaky” and “flakey”!

It’s going to be a loose dough to start

Use the parchment paper to form a dough.

Ready for cooling in the fridge. LOOK AT THE BUTTER PIECES! 

Time to Fill and Cook

It’s best to set up your fillings all in little bowls before you start this process so that everything is easily accessible. While you can edit this as you see fit (and I’ll post variations on the blog later on), the classic rugelach will have:

1. Apricot Jam – You can use apricot preserves if you have that handy, but you won’t want to really utilize the chunks of apricots that are in the preserves.
2. Some type of chopped nut- Depending on my mood, I’ve used pecans, and I’ve used walnuts. While the amount will vary depending on how much you like nuts, I’ve been happy with about a 1/3 of a cup.
3. Cinnamon & Nutmeg – I keep these in the jars, since I find it easier to just sprinkle these on.
4. Granulated Sugar – Since we are just asking for a sprinkle, I just use my fingers to dust.
5. Chocolate Chips – About 1/3 -1/2 of a cup of either mini or finely chopped chips will do. Again, you can vary the amount.
6. Egg white and Brush – Remember that egg white left over from before? Have that out, since we’ll use it to coat the top of the rugelach.
7. Coating Sugar – Any sort of course or large chunk sugar will work for this. Put 1/2 of a cup in a bowl to start and add more as necessary.
8. Remember that these amount will be making 4 rugelach pies (each pie has 12 rugelach to them). Pay attention to each pie while you make them, and adjust amount accordingly.

Now that you’ve got your ingredients out and ready, take your dough out of the fridge and cut into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a circle about 8-10 inches in diameter. For easy rolling, roll between 2 pieces of parchment. Put the rolled out piece in the fridge while you are doing the others.

Once all of your dough is rolled out, take one of the circles out of the fridge because it’s time to make our rugelach pie. Make sure the dough isn’t sticking to the parchment paper. If it is, put it back in the fridge for a little longer. If good, spread 1-2 table spoons of the apricot jam on the dough. This may seem like a little stingy, but adding too much jam will only cause it to run out the sides. Then, sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar on top. A medium sprinkle of cinnamon, a light sprinkle of nutmeg, and a medium sprinkle of sugar will do. Then sprinkle your nuts and chocolate chips on top. It will now look like a pizza pie, but with dessert. You’ll want it generally evenly distributed on the pie, but you can play to putting the larger chunks of chocolate or nuts more towards to the outside.

Put this back in the fridge to cool again while you make the other 3 pies. Once all are done, take your first pie out and cut into 12 slices with a pizza cutter. Then, take a slice, and beginning with the outside, roll the piece over itself to form the pastry shape. brush the top with the egg white, and lightly coat the entire outside (a little more on the top) with the course sugar.

Place each rugelach on parchment paper in a baking tray and set in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes (until golden brown on top). Remove from the oven and leave in the pan to cool for a few minutes. Then, remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Eat the entire first batch yourself, and then serve the other 3 batches to your guests.

Cut into 4

8-10 inches is ideal. The dough will be pretty thin.

It’s a pizza pie with chocolate! CHOCOLATE PIZZA!

Fold from the outside in.

Rolled and ready for oven.

This picture is a lie. You will not eat just two. 

Shut up and just GIVE ME THE RECIPE!!

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sour cream

Filling

Apricot Jam

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Chopped Nuts (Walnuts, Pecans, whatever you like)

Granulated Sugar

Mini Chocolate Chips

Granulated Course Sugar

Egg White

Make It

The Dough

Put flour and butter (table spoon sized pieces) in the food processor. Pulse about 6 times for 2 to 3 seconds for each pulse. You should still see little pea sized pieces of the butter.

In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk with the sour cream together. KEEP THE EGG WHITE FOR LATER. Then, add it to the flour mixture and pulse a couple more times until combined. Once again, you’ll still want to see those pieces of butter.

Turn the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. It’s going to be a very loose dough initially. Use the parchment paper to help it stick together and then kneed it a couple of times until it forms to a dough. Flatten it somewhat, wrap in parchment paper, and refrigerate it for several hours or overnight.

Fill and Cook

Set up your ingredients you’ll fill the rugelach with so you have them easily accessible: Apricot Jam, Some type of chopped nut, Cinnamon & Nutmeg, Granulated Sugar, Mini Chocolate Chips, Egg white and Brush, and Coating Sugar .

Now that you’ve got your ingredients out and ready, take your dough out of the fridge and cut into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a circle about 8-10 inches in diameter. Put the rolled out piece in the fridge while you are doing the others.

Once all of your dough is rolled out, take one of the circles out of the fridge, Spread 1-2 table spoons of the apricot jam on the dough. Then, sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar on top. A medium sprinkle of cinnamon, a light sprinkle of nutmeg, and a medium sprinkle of sugar will do. Then sprinkle your nuts and chocolate chips on top.

Put this back in the fridge to cool again while you make the other 3 pies. Once all are done, take your first pie out and cut into 12 slices with a pizza cutter. Then, take a slice, and beginning with the outside, roll the piece over itself to form the pastry shape. brush the top with the egg white, and lightly coat the entire outside (a little more on the top) with the course sugar.

Place each rugelach on parchment paper in a baking tray and set in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes (until golden brown on top). Remove from the oven and leave in the pan to cool for a few minutes. Then, remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Eat the entire first batch yourself, and then serve the other 3 batches to your guests.