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
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OMG these are so good. I just made them. They came out delicious.
So glad you enjoyed them, Sandra!
Best cookies per our family. I filled them with seedless raspberry preserves and some with apricot preserves. Only issues I had was the preserves kept leaking out. I did as you said by only filling with size of small marble preserves Any suggestions on how I can prevent this. Love all your recipes. You make them so clear to understand. Thank you Natasha. Sandy Widmaier.
Dough was sticking to surface of counter so had to add flour to dough, counter and rolling pin. May not have been 1/8 inch thick as hard to roll but tasted fine after slight rise, baking and rolling in sugar.
H Lisa, normally the dough shouldn’t stick. Did you reduce the amount of butter? Also, when you were mixing the dough, was it fully coming away from the mixing bowl? It could have just needed a bit more flour.
I did not reduce the butter. I’ll make them again but will add more flour when mixing and kneading.
When you convert your recipe to double the portion, the butter still says 2 sticks even those it’s 2 cups which should be 4 sticks. I should have done my math myself but this screwed up my whole recipe!
Hi Jen, thank you for your comment, The slider changes the amounts on the ingredient list, but not in the recipe.
I live at 6500 feet in Colorado. Do I have to make any alterations to this or any other of your recipes?
Hi Cathi! I don’t have any experience with high altitude baking, but you may find this article from King Arthur baking helpful.
Hi Natasha, did you try making these with sourdough starter? Love all your recipes!
Hi Jen! I have not, but that would be a great idea!
Made these Rohalyky this past weekend for
Sviat Vechir/Christmas . Very good. 🙂
My filling was seedless raspberry and apricot jam. I mailed the Rohalyky in a care package to family and froze some too. Merry Christmas!
Those sound wonderful! Merry Christmas! Happy to hear you enjoyed them.
Natasha I’m by my self how can I just make half a recipe thank you they look delicious
Hi Lena! You can adjust the number of servings at the top of the recipe card. I hope you love it!
Can I use regular yeast instead of rapid/instant yeast?
There will be some adjustments if you use regular yeast. The dough may take slightly longer to rise (10–15 minutes more per rise).
Can I make the rugelach cookie dough and refrigerate the dough overnight or up to a few days before shaping and baking cookies?
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.
I have made these many times but never heard of them without the cream cheese
This is the plain version and we love this recipe but you can also add cream cheese if you’re used to the traditional rugelach recipe.
Can these be made with a combo of gluten free 1:1 flour and almond flour?
Hi Kay, I have not tried that exact combination to advise, if you experiment, please let me know how you like it.
I want to make these as they remind me of the Kolachky cookies that I make. I just have one question. Can you use Solo pie filling in these or is jam needed?
Hi Julianne, I haven’t tried using solo pie filling. Is the flavor and texture concentrated like fruit preserves or jam would be? There is just a tiny amount in each cookie so if it’s not as flavorful, it might be a bit more bland.
Absolutely! I only use a small amount in my Kolachky recipe per cookie. Solo pie filling is all that my mom, mother-in-law, grandma and I use.
I have made Kolachky in the past with mincemeat pie filling quite successfully.
Definetly brings back memories , Hungarian cookies add poppyseed fill , walnut fill ,pecan fill and jam . Gotta love cookies . Thank you for the reminder
Aww, that’s so great, Margaretann!
Hi Natasha!
I want to make these cookies as a surprise for my in laws, as according to my husband since his grandparents passing many years ago, they haven’t had these cookies since. I am wondering if I can freeze these cookies before or after they are baked?
Hi Jenny! I haven’t tried freezing these because they always get eaten within a couple of days, but I think it’s worth a try. I would put the powdered sugar on after they are thawed or it might get gummy after the freezer.
Thanks for answering, i will make these and freeze them! Later I’ll come back to your recipe and let you know how it went!
Can you use flour from the States or is this Dover flour different? I want to make these for the holidays .
Hi Frances, I regularly make them with organic AP American flour. Dover flour will give you a softer cookie.
Hi Natasha Do you put egg wash on rogaliki please as they look very delicious would like to make some using different brand flour
Hi Jasia! No, I usually do not egg wash them but you definitely can. Some of my readers do this and add sanding sugar right before baking.
Hi Natasha,
How is Canadian flour different from American? I’m Canadian and I realize our flour seems to be very elastic and strong. Maybe from the harsh winters haha. What are the differences? TIA
Hi Meaghan, I would recommend a Google search on it. But we use All-purpose flour for many of our recipes, but since Canadian flour is more elastic and strong, it’s great for bread.
Hi Natasha,
I think I saw on your website something similar but with nutella. But now I can’t find it. Did you have a recipe for rolled nutella cookies? Could you share it please? Thank you!
Hi Inna, if you type in “nutella” into the search bar, you will see all our nutella recipes. You can also search our recipe index by clicking RECIPES at the top where we have an index by ingredient.
Hi Inna, are you possibly referring to these cookies?
Russian Rugelach and Walnut Rugelach seem to have the same ingredients but the Russian one uses Canadian flour while the Walnut uses all purpose flour…all the other ingredients are the same except for the fillings…..any reason why?
Hi Priscilla, I wanted to put out a version that doesn’t require a special flour for best results since I had so many questions about it. Also, you asked about King Arthur flour and yes that should work fine.