Raspberry Rugelach

Learn how to make these raspberry rugelach cookies in this step by step baking tutorial! With a cream cheesy pastry that is flaky and buttery, then rolled with a cinnamon pecan raspberry filling, these one of my all time favorite cookies!

Where has the time gone? Another year is over? Seriously? I think back on the year, and the people that have come and gone from my life. As the new year approaches, I can’t help but get a little nostalgic. And when I get nostalgic, I bake. Ok I bake for a lot of reasons. Just add nostalgia to the list.  Feeling nostalgic, I wanted to share with you a recipe that was passed on down from my paternal grandmother. Raspberry  Rugelach.

The story goes, she did not have the jam and filling the rugelach recipe called for and improvised.  Being a women who went through the depression, improvisation in the kitchen I am sure was second nature.  She worked with what she had- and what did she have?  Raspberry jam. Now she would use walnuts but I decided to make it my own and use pecans this year.

It is now a tradition to have a rugleach cookie on the cookie platter each Christmas.

What Is A Rugelach Cookie?

If you are unfamiliar with rugelach, let me enlighten you a little. According to the almighty Wikipedia, rugelach is a Jewish pastry, typically made with cream cheese and are made in the form of a crescent in that a triangle of sweet pastry dough is rolled around a nut filling.

Urban legend has it, that this little cookie and the French croissant share a common Viennese ancestory and was created to commemorate the end of a Turkish siege (possibly a reference to the Battle of Vienna?). But that’s all just an urban legend. Who’s to say.

Either way, this cookie is one that I absolutely crave starting, oh, right around the day after Thanksgiving and waning only until the 26th of December.

How To Make Rugelach

You will start by making your dough in the food processor. Combine the cream cheese, salt, vanilla extract, and sugar. Then add in the butter and flour until the butter is pea-sized.

Then shape the dough into 3 discs and wrap in plastic wrap. The dough will need to chill at least 1 hour.

Once the dough has been chilled, you want to roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle. Then spread with a thin layer of jam, toasted pecans, and cinnamon sugar mixture.

Then you want to cut the dough into 12 wedges. I like to use a pizza cutter for this but a chef’s knife will also work. To make this easy, start by cutting it into quarters. Then with each quarter cut into thirds so they all end up the same size. Then you want to roll each wedge starting from the outside so it looks like a crescent roll in the end.

You want to then place the 12 rugelach cookies, point side down, onto a cookie sheet and chill for 30 minutes. While the first batch is chilling you can get to working on the second batch!

When ready to bake, you want to give them a quick egg wash and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar.

Tips On Making This Raspberry Rugelach Recipe

• Careful using that food processor. You don’t want the dough to form one cohesive ball of dough, which means the butter becomes too incorporated and warmed up. This dough is similar to making pie dough so you do not want to work the dough that much so it stays nice and tender.
• When dividing the dough into 3 discs, I recommend using a kitchen scale so the dough is divided evenly.
• The dough does need to be chilled. But you can do this overnight if you would like and split the recipe up over two days.
• When taking the dough out of the fridge, especially if its been in overnight, give it a whack with a rolling pin a few times to soften it up a bit before rolling it out.
• Rolling into a perfect circle can be tough. I like to use a pastry mat to ensure the circle is large enough. And when it’s about the right size, I then will cut off areas that are larger and smoosh them into areas that aren’t quite circular to make a perfect circle.
• Make this recipe your own like my grandmother used to! Use whatever jam flavor you have on hand. Use a different kind of nut. Don’t skip that cinnamon sugar though!

Can I Make These Raspberry Rugelach Cookies Ahead Of Time?

Yes! I like to make the dough one day ahead and then finish the recipe the next day. But you can also freeze these cookies, baked or unbaked. Freezing my cookies is how I get ahead of holiday stress. For unbaked cookies, once frozen simply  place into a plastic sealable bag. Then when ready to bake, just bake frozen and add on a few minutes of baking time.

For baked cookies, make sure they are fully cooled before placing into a container or sealable plastic bag. They should keep for 2 to 3 months.

You can check out my entire freezer baking guide here.

Tools Needed To Make These Raspberry Rugelach Cookies Recipe:

• Food processor
• Kitchen scale – to divide the dough evenly
• Pastry Mat
• Rolling Pin
• Pizza cutter (or sharp chef’s knife)
• Cookie Sheets
• Parchment sheets (these are my new favorite thing!) or silicone baking mat

If you like this recipe, then be sure to let me know and leave me a comment and star rating below! And if you want to  improve your baking skills, then be sure to enroll in my Ultimate Baking Bootcamp class!

Raspberry Rugelach

A crescent rolled cookie filled with cinnamon, raspberry jam, and pecans

4 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 36 cookies

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the dough:

• ▢ 1 8- ounce package cream cheese at room temperature
• ▢ 1/3 cup (67 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 3/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
• ▢ 1 cup (2 sticks, 227 g) unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes

For the filling

• ▢ 3/4 cup (86 g) pecans toasted and chopped
• ▢ 1 cup (255 g) raspberry jam
• ▢ 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cold water
• ▢ 2 tablespoons turbinado (raw) sugar

Instructions

• Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
• Pulse the cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until smooth. Add the flour and butter; pulse until the butter is in pea-size pieces. Divide the dough into 3 pieces; pat into disks and wrap in plastic. Chill 1 hour.
• Remove one portion of dough from the refrigerator. Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature for a few minutes to make it easier to roll.. Lightly flour a rolling pin, and roll out one portion of dough into a 9-inch circle.
• Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the filling in a small bowl and set aside. 
• Spread a thin layer of jam  (about 1/3 cup) and sprinkle with 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar mixture , 1/3 of the pecans on each dough round in a ring, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
• Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter,  cut each round into 12 wedges. Starting at the wide end (outside of the circle), roll each wedge toward the point (towards the middle of the dough).
• Arrange each cookie 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes (this will help with the jam from leaking and the pastry from spreading).
• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (177°C). Make an egg wash by whisking together in a small bowl the egg and water. Brush the rugelach with the egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
• Bake until golden, about 25 to 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Some jam may leak from the pastries while baking, this is normal. Transfer to racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining portions of dough and finish making rest of cookies.

Notes

• Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
• Freezing: You can freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature before serving. You can make and freeze the discs of dough for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling and shaping the next day. 
• Careful using that food processor. You don’t want the dough to form one cohesive ball of dough, which means the butter becomes too incorporated and warmed up. This dough is similar to making pie dough so you do not want to work the dough that much so it stays nice and tender.
• When dividing the dough into 3 discs, I recommend using a kitchen scale so the dough is divided evenly.
• The dough does need to be chilled. But you can do this overnight if you would like and split the recipe up over two days.
• When taking the dough out of the fridge, especially if its been in overnight, give it a whack with a rolling pin a few times to soften it up a bit before rolling it out.
• Make this recipe your own like my grandmother used to! Use whatever jam flavor you have on hand. Use a different kind of nut. Don’t skip that cinnamon sugar though.

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