Rugelach cookies are probably not a cookie you have heard of. I know I never heard of them before I stumbled across a recipe in one of my books from culinary school. I decided to give it a try, tweak it a little bit, and ended up with a delicious, flaky cookie!

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There are many variations to this rugelach cookie recipe. Rugelach cookies get filled with jam and nuts, and have cinnamon sugar sprinkled in the filling and on top. I decided to go with raspberry jam and pistachios for my rugelach cookie recipe.

What Are Rugelach Cookies?

I know the question of "what are rugelach cookies" is probably on your mind!

Rugelach cookies are from Jewish communities in Poland. They are very popular in Israel. They look similar to crescent because they rolled up the same way. The dough is usually made from cream cheese (like my recipe) or sour cream. The filling can be anything: raisins, nuts, jam, chocolate, etc. Savory versions of these cookies can also be done, for example, filling the cookie with boursin cheese and salmon.

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How to Make Rugelach Cookies

Let's start with the rugelach cookie dough. There's only four ingredients for the dough: butter, cream cheese, flour, and salt. Make sure the butter and cream cheese are soft.

First, mix the cream cheese and butter together for about 5 minutes so that they become very smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl if you are using a KitchenAid mixer (or similar) every once in awhile to make sure the butter and cream cheese get fully mixed together.

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Next, slowly add the flour and the salt to the bowl, and mix until it is combined.

Sprinkle flour onto your work surface, and put the dough on it. Put more flour on top of the dough, and use a rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Fold the dough into thirds, like if you were folding a paper to put into an envelope.

Last, roll the dough back out to be about 1/2" thick, then divide it into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into a circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and let it refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

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Building the Rugelach Cookies

Take out one portion of the cookie dough, and on a floured surface, roll it out into a circle of about 1/16" thickness.

Spread your jam of choice (in my case, I used raspberry jam). Keep the layer of jam very thin. Sprinkles your choice of nuts on top (I used pistachios), then sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top.

Then, cut the dough like you would cut a pizza, and cut it into 16 pieces for smaller cookies, or you can cut into 8 pieces for larger cookies.

Next, you will roll each triangle. Start at the wide end of the triangle, and roll it up. It will look like a crescent.

Put each cookie on a sheet tray, then brush them with egg wash and sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top. Bake them according to the recipe!

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