Rugelach are the quintessential Jewish pastry, typically filled with fruit and nuts or chocolate and cinnamon. Some use a yeast-based dough; these do not.

This dough is not sweet, so you want a sweet filling and a good dusting of confectionary sugar over the top. With a cup of tea or coffee, rugelach are the perfect thing to put out on Shabbat afternoon for drop-in guests (or any other time, for that matter).

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ cup oil
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract OR 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (plus some zest)

Filling

  • Date paste
  • Walnuts, chopped
  • Optional: chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
  • Optional: desiccated coconut

Directions

  1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the baking powder, oil, salt, and vanilla or lemon.
  2. Pour the boiling water into the bowl and mix with a spoon until the dough comes together in a ball. Set aside to cool.
  3. Once the dough has reached room temperature, see if it feels too sticky or loose to work with. If so, add more flour, a little at a time, until it is workable.
  4. Divide dough into two equal parts.
  5. Lay a sheet of parchment paper out on your counter. Roll one piece of dough into a ball and place in the center of the parchment paper. Roll it out into a circle. It’s okay if it’s not perfectly round. You want the dough thin, but not too thin that it will break when you try to roll it up.
  6. Spread a layer of date paste over the dough and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Optional: Add desiccated coconut and/or chocolate chips as well.
  7. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 triangles (pizza-style). Roll each triangle up, starting at the wide end. Try to keep them as tight as possible.
  8. Repeat with remaining dough.
  9. Pre-heat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper (with cooking oil spray).
  10. Gently pick up the rugelach and transfer to the baking sheet, leaving a small amount of space between them (they will not grow exponentially).
  11. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 20-25 minutes.
  12. Cool. Dust with confectioners sugar.

Yields: 16 rugelach