let's bake Rugelach!

Rugelach is a delicious Jewish pastry and very easy to make at home! I first learned in the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, but have since made several modifications so thought it was time to post my version here. Where we live we have many Jewish bakeries, which is probably why I've rarely ventured to bake my own Jewish delicacies. The thought being, why bother making my own if theirs are so good? For that reason as well, you'll never catch me baking my own bagels. I live way too chose to Saint Viateur Bagels for that! (Technically closer to Fairmont Bagel, but if you know Montreal, you know we're split down the middle about which bagel joint is the true best). But back to rugelach.

Rugelach, pronounced roo-guh-lack, is sometimes filled with chocolate, but I always choose fruity-filled sweets over chocolate. Am I weird? The dough is a mixture of cream cheese and butter, which makes it incredibly easy to roll out. This recipe makes two balls of dough, which roll out to make 12 rugelach each. Once your dough comes together, separate into two balls and roll each ball into a large circle. Once rolled thin, spread your favourite jam all over the top of the circle in a thin layer. Too thick of a jam layer will make your rugelach unravel in the oven and just explode with jam, so as tempting as it is, limit the jam layer to two tablespoons! 

Slice your jammed circle from top to bottom, left to right, and then twice more in equal portions in each quarter. This is hard to explain without a picture, I admit, but essentially, you're cutting to reveal 12 individual triangles. You'll then roll the triangles inward from the outer edge of the circle. They'll look like little croissants filled with jam and taste even better!

Rugelach

Dough

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups flour

pinch salt

• Cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until well incorporated
• Then add the flour and salt until a large ball of dough forms. 
• Flatten each dough ball into a disc shape. Cut in two and individually wrap each dough disc for one hour or up to two days.
  
  You could also freeze the dough discs to use another day - just thaw them at room temperature when you're ready to bake your rugelach.

Filling

Whatever jam you like most! We used raspberry but my favourite is rhubarb or peach

Glaze

Whisk an egg and glaze each rugelach. This won't use the entire egg, but I suggest save it in a small jar in your fridge for the next baked good, because all pastries are best topped with an egg glaze! Especially scones, but I digress...

Top

Lastly, top with some raw sugar for an added crunch which is the best pairing with the super soft dough!

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, let fully cool, and enjoy!