This easy Rugelach Cookies recipe makes flaky, soft, and perfect crescent-shaped pastries filled with sweet jam and dusted with powdered sugar. They are really simple and quick to make; in fact, you don’t even have to wait for butter to soften. Make these cookies for your Holiday cookie platter, or any time!
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Helpful Reader Review
“Thank you so much Natasha for your website, I love Rogaliki (rugelach) but never could make them myself. And I just did it and can’t stop eating them!” – Olga ★★★★★
Rugelach Video
Rugelach cookies are classic Holiday cookies from Eastern Europe that are loved all over the world. They may look sophisticated, but watch the video to see how easy they are to make.
Easy Rugelach Recipe
My mom calls this rugelach recipe “Rogaliki” and whips them up all the time, especially during the holidays and for special occasions. Since it’s so much a favorite, I even featured it in my Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook.
My mom makes her own blackcurrant preserves for the filling (oh goodness, if I could just let you lick the spoon), but you can use raspberry, strawberry, or any flavor you prefer.
Rugelach Cookie Ingredients
You’ll need just a few simple ingredients to make this rugelach cookie recipe, but they will surely become a favorite Holiday cookie recipe in your house.
- Flour – all-purpose works just fine here, but be sure to measure it correctly to ensure the pastry has the best texture.
- Rapid rise yeast – also called instant yeast. No need to proof this yeast; just make sure it’s not expired and was sealed properly.
- Unsalted butter, melted and then cooled, to easily incorporate into the dough. You can partially melt in the microwave, then stir to melt and cool at once.
- Whole milk – warm to 110°F to help activate the yeast. Make sure it’s not too hot or it can deactivate the yeast.
- Sugar – granulated sugar to sprinkle over the dough before rolling. Don’t forget powdered sugar for dusting the top since the cookies don’t contain much sugar without it.
- Jam – any flavor of your choice, but be sure to choose a thicker-textured jam so it won’t run out of the sides of the cookie. An even consistency jam works best.
Rugelach Variations
Classic rugelach cookies come in so many flavors, oftentimes with nuts or fruit mixed in. Here are a few ideas to finely chop with a food processor before sprinkling over the dough:
- Nuts – try almonds, pecans, or walnuts for Walnut Rugelach
- Dried Fruit – cranberries or raisins
- Chocolate rugelach – mini chocolate chips or chocolate shavings, or swap the jam for chocolate hazelnut spread
How to Make Rugelach Cookies
A stand mixer with a paddle attachment is easiest, but you can use an electric hand mixer to mix the cookie dough.
- Whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt in a small bowl and line two cookie sheets with parchment.
- Make the Dough – use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer to combine the butter and milk, and then reduce the speed to medium-low and add the flour mixture a little at a time. Switch to the dough hook and continue mixing in the stand mixer or knead by hand for 3 minutes until very soft, but not sticky. Rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough – Divide the rugelach dough into 5 pieces, and then cover 4 pieces with plastic wrap while rolling out the one piece to about a 10″ circle with a rolling pin.
- Make the cookies – sprinkle 1/2 Tbsp of sugar over the dough disk, then use a pizza cutter to cut into 12 slices. Add a small dollop of jam (about the size of a marble) to the large side of each triangle and then roll each triangle up, starting from the jam side. Place on the cookie sheet tail-end-down, then repeat with the other 4 pieces of dough.
- Proof in a warm place (<100°F) for 30 minutes in a warmed oven or until puffed. Do not overheat, or you will exhaust the yeast. You should see them visibly puff, but not double (see the photo below for before and after). Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until they just begin to turn golden, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through baking, then cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. You can also flip them to see if they are turning golden brown on the bottom.
- Add the confectioners sugar – generously roll the WARM cookies in a bowl of powdered sugar and set on a serving tray. The powdered sugar will stick better if the cookies are warm.
Pro Tip:
Don’t skip that confectioner’s sugar step! The Rugelach cookie dough doesn’t have any sugar besides the little bit we sprinkled on the dough, so it isn’t very sweet and can use a bit of powdered sugar to round out the flavor.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
‘Tis the season for baking! Once you make these Rugelach cookies, round out your cookie tray with these festive Holiday Cookie Recipes:
- Almond Snowball Cookies
- Palmiers Cookies
- Angel Wing Cookies
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Cranberry Cookies
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Baklava
I hope you fall in love with my Mom’s classic Rugelach cookie recipe. These tasty treats are some of my favorites to make and share with friends. The rolled shape, sweet jam filling, and buttery dough make for a beautiful and delicious cookie. Add these rugelach cookies to your Holiday baking list!
Rugelach Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 2 teaspoons rapid rise or instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), melted and cooled to 110˚F
- 1 cup whole milk, warmed to 110˚F
- 2½ Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
- 1 cup berry jam or blended preserves, preferably a thick consistency
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for finishing
Instructions
- Prep – Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Make the dough – In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine the butter and milk. With the mixer on medium-low speed (or speed level 2 if your mixer has this setting), add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time, letting it incorporate with each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Continue mixing for another 3-5 minutes, or knead by hand. The dough will be soft and won't stick to hands or the mixing bowl. If the dough is still sticking to your fingertips, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temp 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough – Divide the dough into five equal pieces and loosely cover them with plastic wrap. On a clean, smooth surface, use a rolling pin to roll one piece of the dough into a 10-inch circle, less than ¹⁄8 inch thick.
- Make the cookies – Sprinkle ½ tablespoon of the granulated sugar over the entire surface of the dough disk. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 even triangle slices (as you would cut a pizza). Add a marble-size portion of the jam over the wider part of each dough triangle, then roll up the dough from the jam side, keeping a fairly tight roll as you go. Place the rolled rugelach tail side down on the prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Proof – Let the rugelach proof in a warm place (not hotter than a 100°F oven) for 30 to 45 minutes (or at room temperature 60-90 minutes), until they have visibly puffed. Place the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the rugelach for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are just starting to turn lightly golden, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Let the rugelach rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheets.
- Add confectioners’ sugar to a medium bowl. Roll the warm rugelach, a couple cookies at a time, in the confectioners’ sugar and transfer them to a large serving tray – it's ok to stack them. Don’t be tempted to skip the confectioners’ sugar step; the rugelach aren’t overly sweet, and it helps round out their flavor.
Notes
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3–4 days. The powdered sugar will soften slightly over time, which is normal.
- To freeze baked cookies, cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature and dust with more powdered sugar if needed.
- For make-ahead, shape and proof the cookies. Freeze unbaked cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet until firm, then store in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Bake directly from frozen, adding 2–4 minutes to the bake time.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Thank you, these turned out delish! Two questions.. How do you make the preserves? And you mix the milk & butter with the mixer, but when adding in the flour you use your hands, right?
start mixing it in using the whisk and then switch to the dough hook; you can do it by hand; it’s just more work by hand 🙂
Hi, Natasha. I would just like to let you know that I have tried many recipes from your site and they have all been amazing. Thank you so much for sharing these with us!
I am planning on making these soon and I was wondering why you sprinkle the sugar on the dough instead of mixing it right in with it? I guess I’m a little worried they won’t be sweet enough.
It’s the way the original recipe was written; someone must have tested it at some point. It turns out perfect and has ample sweetness especially with the powdered sugar on top 🙂
I made these a couple of days ago and they were delicious. You were right, they are perfectly sweet. I had trouble keeping the preserves from leaking out, but still so yummy. They’re almost gone. Thanks so much!!!
You are welcome Jennifer. Every time my mom makes them, they go fast :).
I made these yesterday with blueberry pie filling and they are so yummy!!!! Thank you for the recipe!!!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 The blueberry sounds so nice!!
Here is wonderful recipe of almost the same rogaliki: http://www.say7.info/cook/recipe/618-Rogaliki-s.html
Thank you for sharing the link Natalia.
It doesn’t matter what kind of all purpose flour u r using to make rogaliki/anything, what is more important that this flour is bleached, so they used bleach while making it. Isn’t it harsh? It’s just an advise, but try to avoid bleached flours…
As to recipe: thanx a lot! I was looking for it for a long time… My mom’s rogaliki from my childhood. Gonna make double recipe cuz my boys (4 of them) will eat them with speed of light.
Good job, Natasha! God bless!
Thank you so much Natasha for your website, I love Rogaliki but never could make them myself. And I just did it and can’t stop eating them!
Good job!! I know exactly how you feel 😉
Hi Natasha.
I’m from Mendoza, Argentina and we used to live in a russian community. My neighbour used to combine both cultures and bake the rugela with quince jam. It was delicious!. I was wondering, do you have a recipe of rugela that the dough is made (among other ingredients) with cream cheese?. Hers had in the dough cream cheese, and I cant find a recipe with that.
Thank u!!!!!!
This is the only one that I have posted. I’ve made one with cream cheese before but it just wasn’t nearly as good. 😉
Hi again…
Thank you for answering, I really appreciate it…
🙂
For cream cheese rugelach try foodnetwork’s yummy recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rugelach-recipe/index.html the filing is made with apricot preserves and walnuts..pretty delicious!
I have tried this but I liked my mom’s dough better, however the filling from Ina’s recipe was very good. I’ll have to try combine the two! 🙂
They caught my eye immidiately, but for some reason my dough did not want to stick when i tried to pinch the ends to avoid the preserve to sneak out;(….still came out delicious!!! By any chance, do you have a recipe for another kind of “rogaliki” they’re not from “drozhevoye testo” and they’re smaller – like “palchiki”? It’s very “rassipchatoye” and it’s sooo good but i can’t find the recipe…..and if i will, i will deffinately share it with you:)
The only thing I have like that are the troobochki made with puff pastry, but I’ll ask around; please do share it if you find one first. That would be awesome. Thanks Lana!
Here’s a recipe for “palchiki” my mom makes
4 margarine sticks room temperature (you can try using butter)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups of flour
mix everything, roll out dough in a square about 10×10 inches, put preserves all over in thin layer and cut it into little squares about 2×2 each, and then roll each one from one corner to the other, diagonally, bake at 350 degrees on parchment paper so they won’t stick, take out when golden in color, take off the parchment paper while still hot, once cooled dredge in powdered sugar, enjoy!
Oh wow that sounds really good! Does your Mom make them with regular all-purpose flour or Canadian all-purpose? Thanks so much for sharing!
she uses all-purpose flour..but you can experiment with Canadian flour..you just need enough flour for the dough not to be sticky..
I’m making these rogaliki right now! Can’t wait to try ’em:)
I just had some of those yesterday :). Let me know what you think.
These rogaliki are delicious! I made them with poppy seed filling and walnuts, cause I had no jam in my pantry!!!! I like to eat them with a cold glass of milk!!!
P.S. my kids ate probably a dozen!
Poppy seed and walnuts sounds delicious :), I’m glad that you like them.
I’m making them now 🙂 but I have a question when you said 100 degrees to rise. do u mean C or F. I saw 170 it doesnt go lower. I think I should of left them in the room temp.. but they still taste good.
I mean 100 F. My oven is the same way, it doesn’t go lower than 170, so I put a wooden mixing spoon in the oven door to keep it from getting too hot. Also, turn off the oven after it preheats or it will start cooking the rugelach if it’s 170 degrees. It should be just very very warm, not hot.
Hi Natasha!
I love your blog, you’re a talented and awesome, easy to read and follow cook.
I do have a few questions about these Rogaliki.
I don’t have a measuring spoon for 3/4 tbsp. does it have to be exact? And if yes how can I convert into teaspoons?
And do I HAVE to use Canadian flour, or just regular?
Thank you Marina 🙂 I just filled a tbsp 3/4 full; doesn’t have to be exact. I’ve tested regular flour and flour made in Canada and by far the Canadian flour was softer and more like a pastry. Regular flour tastes good too but it turns out more cookie like and tastes more buttery. I would definitely say the Canadian flour is best. Once you try Canadian flour you won’t want to go back. The quality of your baked goods will be better 🙂
Alright Natasha, thanks so much.
Hi Natasha
Just wanted to say thankyou for this great recipe. I have made them several times and they are a big hit. I have a batch in the oven right now. Can’t wait for them to cool down. I’m from Australia and I’m sure we don’t have Canadian flour so I just used regular all purpose flour and they turned out great. thanks for the easy to follow recipe and fabulous photos also. 🙂
You are welcome Sonia. I bet that Australian all purpose flour is as good as Canadian flour 😀
Hi Natasha,
I was wondering, do you know where i’d be able to purchase Canadian flour? I live in San Francisco bay area and i’ve looked at costco and all other grocery stores and they dont have any out here. We don’t have a Winco’s here. I was wondering if you knew if I’d be able to purchase it online and if so where and which one.
Do you have Cash and Carry store near by or Russian stores? They normally carry Canadian flour.
no cash and carry either. But i will check our local russian store, its pretty small so im not sure if they would carry it, but i hope they do
We made pizza dough yesterday with Canadian Flour and it turned out very good.. So I guess I will agree with you about Canadian Flour.. it really does makes things better.
I’m totally sold on it. And I’m a little torn because I know not everyone uses it, but so far all my recipes with Canadian flour just taste better.
Natasha, thank you soooo much for this recipe. It is melting in the mouth and tastes awesome. You are a blessing from heaven ))
You’re so sweet 🙂 thank you so much! I’m so happy you loved the recipe.
I wanna try making these today. But I have makova pasta as a filling. It is pretty sweet to taste. Should I still sprinkle with sugar before putting the filling on the dough?
Yes I would still sprinkle lightly with sugar since there is no sugar in the dough itself. Just do a light sprinkling. I did forget once when making it with jam and I had to use loads of powdered sugar for it to taste sweet.
How big are your sticks of butter? I buy the ones from Sam’s and they are 450 grams each, and with that size 2 sticks seems a little too much.
One box of butter is 1 lb so two sticks would be 1/2 lb. Hope that helps
I love these!!! My Mom used to make these a lot when we were kids filled with apricot preserves. Can’t wait to try these with black currant though as I actually have some homemade in my fridge 🙂 I try not to use bleached flour as from what I read it’s bleached with chemicals. Have you looked into this brand to see what their bleaching process is? I was going to try making it with King Arthur cake flour.
No I haven’t but thy is a very good point! Is that King Arthur brand good? I haven’t tried it.
Check out their website. You will love it! I like everything they sell.
I never thought to use blackcurrant for rugelach. My Czech grandma always used apricot flavorings, but I think I want to try your version!
Thanks for sharing!
Apricots would probably be fantastic as well.
hi Natasha, i am confused on proportions of flour. Do you need 4 cups all together, or 4c and 3 3/4 of a cup.
Oh Thanks for spotting that! It’s 4 cups all together. I will fix that :-O
thank you, i will be making those tonight 🙂