Super simple cookies that are delicious. It’s nostalgic to bake these cookies that want to be a pastry when it grows up. 😊
You can make the dough and the filling, but the easiest way is to buy ready-made puff pastry for most households.
Traditional rugelach is like a croissant, but I’ve learned that it’s easier to roll the cookies. The reason is that you partly avoid leakage from the filling, and you can make the cookies in a smaller size when you roll it my way.
When I was little, my mother used to order these cookies from a very famous bakery in Tehran. Now I have to do it myself 😊
Each frozen puff pastry (Swedish) makes about 15 – 20 cookies. It sounds like a lot, but suddenly they’re gone! I usually have a hard time waiting until they have cooled. So, I will probably eat half while I wait.
Fresh puff pastry is available in most grocery stores. If you buy the fresh variety, you don’t need to roll it as much. Instead, cut it in half lengthwise and roll it just a little. Then you fill it and roll. It will be great.
Now I have frozen puff pastry at home and made two (40 cookies) at once. I brought some to my Jewish friend – I was pretty sure she knew about it – but was surprised that she had no idea about these wonderful Jewish cookies. Fun to introduce the cookies to my friend.
Here is what you need for a roll that makes about 20 cookies. You can easily double the batch if you wish or make even more. It keeps well in the fridge. Super delicious to serve these tasty cookies with some ice cream. Feel free to warm it up beforehand so the cookies will be even more flavorful.
Ingredients for 20 cookies
| 1 pc. frozen puff pastry | ¼ – ½ tsp ground cinnamon |
| Filling | Grated rind of half a lemon |
| 80-gram apricot jam | Grated peel of half an orange |
| 40-gram raisin | Milk to be brushed on |
| 40-gram walnuts | Garnish |
| 14-gram sugar | S Sugar and cinnamon mixture |
As usual, mise en place applies, which means you measure everything and have it ready before you start baking.
Method:
- Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw at room temperature. If you use fresh puff pastry, you avoid it, but please take it out of the fridge about 10 minutes before rolling it out. Divide the fresh puff pastry lengthwise.
- Set the oven to (180° C) (350° F) and the convection oven (to 155° C). (311° F)
- Chop the walnuts and raisins next, and grate the orange and lemon peel. (Please remove the wax from the citrus fruits first – HERE you can read more about how to do it).
- Mix sugar and ground cinnamon and set aside.
- Lightly flour the backboard. Take out the puff pastry and lightly flour the top.
- Roll out the dough to 30 x 15 cm. (12 x 6 inches)
- Spread the apricot jam first – about 2 cm from the edge. Next, sprinkle chopped raisins and grated orange and lemon zest over the marmalade. Then sprinkle some of the sugar and cinnamon mixture over it. Finally, sprinkle the chopped walnuts.
- Roll it as compactly as possible. Press the edges of the short side and trim it. Press the short sides down with a fork.
- Place the roll(s) on a cookie sheet (30 x 40 cm) (12 x 15 inches) lined with parchment paper—brush milk over the entire roll.
- Sprinkle some of the sugar and cinnamon mixture over it.
- Put one stick (like chopsticks) on each side of the roll and cut an incision about 2-3 cm apart, but not all the way.
- Bake the cookies for 45 – 50 minutes in the oven.
Allow cooling slightly before cutting the cookies. Don’t panic if the marmalade has leaked a little outside. Just cut it out in that case.
Ready to serve.
Enjoy!
