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These walnut rugelach are soft, crumbly and flaky. Rugelach (a.k.a. ‘rogaliki’) are the perfect cookies and are surprisingly easy to make (the cookie dough will surprise you)! My Mother is famous for her rugelach recipe (a.k.a. ‘rogaliki’ cookies) and they ALWAYS disappear fast. These walnut rugelach are based on Mom’s classic recipe and filled with a cranberry-apricot and walnut filling.
This recipe is sponsored by our friends at Fisher and these cookies are loaded with crunchy Fisher walnuts making the flavor and texture of the rugelach irresistible.
Watch the how-to video until the end to see 3 generations get in on the taste test – SO FUN! Seeing my Mom and baby girl loving on the cookies just makes my heart sing. I hope you love these rugelach cookies – they are perfect for Mother’s Day or any holiday really, but are easy enough for every day.
Watch How to Make Walnut Rugelach Recipe:
I really want you all to discover this rugelach recipe. It may just become your go-to cookie! We have been loving these cookies for as long as I can remember and Mom makes them for nearly every potluck. She taught me how to make these after all and getting her seal of approval is just the best! I just love that she was in this video.
Happy Mother’s Day Mama – I love you more than words could ever express!
Ingredients for Walnut Rugelach Recipe:
1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, melted (not hot)
1 cup (8oz) warm milk (2% or whole milk)
4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, *measured correctly
3/4 Tbsp active dry yeast
For Rugelach Cookie Filling/ Topping:
10 oz apricot preserves
1 cup Fisher walnuts**
3/4 cup dried cranberries/craisins, (or dried cherries, or raisins)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Powdered sugar to generously dust cookies
**A Big thank you to our friends at Fisher Nuts for sponsoring this recipe! I feel good about buying Fisher nuts for my family because they don’t have preservatives and are non-GMO project verified. You get the nuts and only nuts – it’s as if you had cracked them out of the shell yourself, minus all the effort and mess of course ;). You’ll recognize the right nuts by their blue resealable “Fisher” brand bags.
I wasn’t kidding when I said to lay on the powdered goodness at the end. My kids always go for the ones with the most and I don’t blame them! Mmm… These walnut rugelach cookies are impossibly good!
⬇ Print-Friendly Rugelach Recipe:
Walnut Rugelach Recipe (VIDEO)

Ingredients
Ingredients for Rugelach Cookies:
- 1 cup 226 g unsalted butter, melted (not hot)
- 1 cup 8oz warm milk (2% or whole milk)
- 4 cups 500 g all-purpose flour, measured correctly*
- 3/4 Tbsp active dry yeast
For Rugelach Cookie Filling/ Topping:
- 10 oz apricot preserves
- 1 cup walnuts
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries/craisins, (or dried cherries, or raisins)
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Powdered sugar to generously dust cookies
Instructions
How to Make Walnut Rugelach Recipe:
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together 1 cup walnuts, 3/4 cup dried cranberries, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon until ground up.
- Melt 1 cup butter over low heat (it should be warm, not hot), and add it to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with dough hook attachment. Stir in 1 cup warm milk.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 4 cups flour (measured correctly*) and 3/4 Tbsp yeast. With mixer on speed 2, add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, letting it incorporate with each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed then continue mixing/kneading the dough another 3-5 mins. Dough should be very soft and won't stick to your hands.
- Divide dough into 5 pieces and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Work with one piece at a time, rolling it into an 11-inch circle. You should not have to flour the work surface. Spread 3 heaping Tablespoons of preserves evenly over the surface then sprinkle the top with 1/3 cup of the nut mixture.
- Use a pizza cutter, slice through the circle (just like a pizza), cutting into 12 triangles. Roll each triangle from the outside in then transfer rugelach with the points facing down to a parchment-lined baking sheet.***
- Let cookies rise in a warm oven (no more than 100˚F) for 30-45 minutes or until noticeably puffed and about 50% larger. Remove from the oven and preheat oven to 350˚F. Bake in preheated oven for 30 min or until tops are lightly golden. Transfer to serving platter while still warm and dust each layer generously with powdered sugar - remember the dough has no sugar in it so don't skimp on this last step :).
Notes
*To measure flour correctly, spoon flour into a dry ingredients measuring cup and scrape off the top, or if you have a scale, weigh out 500 grams.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Fisher nuts. As always, all opinions and text are my own. Check out all of the Fisher Nuts recipes for more Mother’s Day inspiration.
I hope you all have a beautiful Mother’s Day! And if you’re thinking about what to get the Mom’s in your life this Mother’s Day, keep in mind the best gifts are tight hugs, “I love you’s,” and homemade treats of course! 😉
Can you make these with gluten free flour? If so, what type/brand? My daughter and granddaughter have celiac disease. Their grandmother used to make cookies very similar and these were their favorite! Now they cannot enjoy them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for all your very delicious recipes.
Patricia Viviano
Hi Patricia, I honestly haven’t tested the cookies with gluten free flour so it is difficult to guess how that would affect the texture or final product.
Maybe someone else has tried this with gluten free flour? Thanks in advance!! 🙂
I’m going to make these tonight using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking flour. I have Celiac, and I have found that this flour (so far) works seamlessly as a sub for regular flour.
Made these for Christmas. Shared with family and neighbors. Everyone loved them!!!
Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome Carla! I’m glad to hear the recipe is a HIT. Thanks for sharing!
Made these awhile ago and my husband loved them – to save time wondering if I could devide dough and then roll out into rectangle place filling onto dough and roll them – like a cake roll and cut (instead of triangles) and they do freeze well.
Hi Betty, are you thinking about doing pinwheel type of cookies? I haven’t experimented that way so I’m not 100% sure. I think it’s worth a test and if you try it out let me know how you liked them! Thanks for sharing that they freeze well Great to know!!
I made these for Christmas. The only thing I added was Dr. Oetkar vanilla sugar, one package. Was very good.
I’m happy to hear you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Some of the ovens don’t go down to 100F (only 170F). Since the yeast gets deactivated if the temperature is too high, I warmed up the oven (350F is fine). My glass top stove gets warm when the over is on. So I covered the baking sheet with plastic wrap and a towel, and let it sit on the glass top for 30-45 min. It did the trick and the cookies rose by 50%.
Is there another way to let them rise if your oven doesn’t go down to 100F?
Hi Maryna, our old oven didn’t go below 170 also so I let it preheat to the lowest setting then propped the oven door open with a wooden spoon. If your oven has a temperature gauge, you can watch it go to 100 and then turn the oven off and put yoru stuff into the oven for proofing with the door completely shut.
Natasha, do you think it would be ok to just use nuts, apricot preserves and sugar, and omit the rest of the ingredients from the filling?
Hi Natasha (great name by the way!) ;), yes that would work great. My Mom makes her rugelach all the time with just 1 very simple filling (jam) so you can definitely just use nuts, apricot preserves and sugar.
Thank you! Will be making them for Christmas along with your chocolate spartak cake;-) I love your site! You taught me how to bake!:-) Merry Christmas, and may God bless you and your beautiful family abundantly in the new year!!!
My pleasure Natasha! 😊 God Bless and Merry Christmas!!
Hi Natasha , Thank you for the video it helped a lot. after they are baked how long will they keep in a sealed container. Thank you
Hi Virginia, I think they are best enjoyed within 3 days of making them – they will have the best texture.
Looks luscious. Can’t wait to try them.
They are easy and so good! I hope you like them Patricia!
How long do I cover it for?
Hi Sivan, the plastic wrap is meant to keep the rest of the dough from drying out while you are working on the dough one piece at a time. Keep it covered while you are working and only until you are done rolling out all the pieces of dough.
Can they be frozen
Hi Jenny, I haven’t tried freezing them but I think that could work well. I probably would not dust with powdered sugar until they are thawed though.
GREAT RECIPE, I WILL DO THIS ONE.
I LOVE TO COOK AND BAKE THANK YOU LENA.
You’re welcome Carol! I’m glad you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing your great review!
How do you measure 3/4 tbs of dry yeast???
Hi Lina, I filled a measuring Tablespoon 3/4 full. It doesn’t have to be perfectly precise – no worries! 🙂
Thank you so much, for your recipe and for replying! That is amazing!!! All my family and neighboors love it!!!
2 and 1/4 tsp
Equals to 3/4 tablespoon
This looks amazing.
It’s delicious AND so easy! Please let me know what you think Rachel if you decide to make the recipe!
Do you think there is any way to make these dairy free? What can I substitute for butter and milk?
Hi Kathy, I really haven’t experimented with making this dairy free so I’m not sure. One of my readers reported using coconut oil but said hers didn’t rise as well, although there may have been other factors involved. It’s difficult to say for sure. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Wow really great awesome super cool video demo Natasha rugulach (rogaliki) look so very yummy and delish love apricot jam and fruit nut mixture love your mom and baby d s cameo @ the end so cool beautiful family g-d bless thanx for sharing sweetheart cheers
Thanks for following! God Bless 😀
I am going to try to make these today for a potluck we are having…… can you use almond milk instead of regular milk? Thanks
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried that substitution so I can’t say for sure, but I am tempted to say yes. If you test it out, please let me know how it goes! 🙂
Someone asked above if you can leave out the nuts. My mom made these and also added coconut, maybe you could use coconut in some with the other “jam” mixture, would be awesome too!!
Yes that is a great idea, especially for those who cannot eat nuts. Thank you for your suggestion!!
VERY VERY GOOD
Thank you Mariana 😬
Dear Natasha! I have made these cookies today, and let me tell you, they were a hit! People were so impressed by the flavour! The recipe in terrific, and so simple! I have translated the recipe to my language (Slovenian) and have posted the recipe on my blog (I have also included the link to your original recipe). You can see it here: https://doublekitchentrouble.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/life-is-better-with-fresh-baked-cookies/. Once again, bravo on the recipe! 🙂
I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
So delicious! I made it with poppy seed filling and everyone loved it
Thanks for the recipe
You’re welcome Alina! That sounds great! Thanks for sharing 🙂