rugelach

Desserts

Rugelach

I adore making rugelach at this time of year, when a lot of family and friends are often around. It's incredibly easy to make the basic pastry for these tasty treats (which is super buttery and flaky to boot) and you can keep it in the fridge for week in case you have any spur-of-the-moment cookie cravings. As this recipe makes enough dough for 4 batches of cookies, you get the chance to experiment with flavors a bit -- I usually like to use different fillings for each batch by swapping in different spices, nuts, chocolates, or jams. Here I've instructed for enough filling for all 4 disks of dough but feel free to change it up however you like. (The dough for these cookies is slightly altered from Alice Medrich's book Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy.)

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cream cheese, cold
1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cubed
2 tablespoons cold water
for the filling:
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
zest of one lemon
1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
4 tablespoons honey, warmed

Directions

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of the food processor and blend together briefly. Add the cubed butter and pulse in for a couple of seconds then add the cream cheese and pulse again until it just starts to clump together.
The dough should stick together when pinched -- if it is too dry add the water and pulse in quickly.
Tip the dough out onto a work surface and gather it together into a ball, divide into four balls and flatten them into disks. Wrap individually in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, lemon zest and chopped nuts.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one disk of dough into a roughly 12-inch circle.
Brush the circle of dough with 1 tablespoon of the warmed honey then sprinkle on a quarter of the nut mixture.
Cut the circle into 12 wedges (like a pizza). Starting at the base of each wedge, roll it up towards the tip.
Place the shaped cookies onto a lined baking tray and bake for 17 to 20 minutes until golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Repeat steps 5 to 8 with the other disks of dough.
Store the cookies in an airtight container.