Triple-Flavor Rugelach — The Pastry That Travels With You

Winter break. The school is closed, the students are scattered, and I am in my kitchen with a freedom that is both welcome and disorienting. For thirty-eight years, my December has been structured by finals and grading and the last faculty meeting of the semester. Without that structure, the days expand. I fill them with cooking, because what else would I fill them with? Reading, yes. Writing, yes. But cooking is the activity that requires my whole body — hands, eyes, nose, the proprioceptive sense of knowing when dough is right by the way it yields under my palms. Cooking is the most physical thinking I do.

I made rugelach this week — a triple batch, because December is rugelach season the way March is brisket season. Three flavors: chocolate walnut, cinnamon sugar, and apricot. The apricot is Sylvia's favorite and therefore the one I make with the most care, rolling the dough thinner, spreading the jam more evenly, curling each crescent with the attention of a woman performing a small, sacred act. Rugelach is the most portable of Ashkenazi pastries — small, wrapped, designed for traveling, which makes sense when you consider that Ashkenazi Jews were always traveling, always being moved, and they needed sweets that could be carried in a pocket or a suitcase or across a border.

I packaged the rugelach in tins and distributed them: one tin to Mrs. DeLuca, one to Helen Marcowitz, one to the Goldsteins, one to David and Jennifer, one to Rebecca. Rebecca's tin included extra apricot, because she is her grandmother's grandchild and prefers the flavors Sylvia preferred, which is a form of genetic loyalty that operates through taste buds rather than chromosomes. Rebecca said, "These are Grandma's." I said, "They're mine." She said, "Same thing." She is right. They are the same thing. That is the point.

Marvin and I went for a walk on the boardwalk in Long Beach. December on Long Island's South Shore is cold and gray and beautiful in the particular way that empty beaches are beautiful — the beauty of absence, of space, of wind that has nothing to push against. We walked and didn't talk and held hands because our hands know each other the way old books know their shelves. We have been holding these same hands for thirty-four years. The hands are older. The grip is the same.

The year is ending. 2016. My first year on the blog. The blog has given me something I didn't know I needed: an audience for the stories I've been carrying. The recipes are the vehicle. The stories are the cargo. And the readers — those women (and a few men) who comment and write emails and tell me my brisket essay made them call their mothers — they are the reason I will keep writing. Because the stories need somewhere to go. And a kitchen, no matter how full, is still just a room until someone listens.

I came home from that walk with cold hands and a full heart, and I did what I always do when I don’t have the words yet—I went to the kitchen. Rugelach felt right in the way that only certain recipes feel right: they’re patient work, repetitive and meditative, the kind of rolling and filling and rolling again that lets the mind settle into something quieter than thought. Thirty-four years of marriage, one year of telling stories to strangers on the internet, and here I am making forty-eight small pastries in three flavors, because abundance has always been how I say thank you. Here’s how I made them.

Triple-Flavor Rugelach (Chocolate Walnut, Cinnamon Sugar — Apricot)

Prep Time: 45 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 3 hrs (includes chilling) | Servings: 48 rugelach (16 per flavor)

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Dough (makes all three flavors):

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 8 oz cream cheese, cold, cut into cubes
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 egg yolk (for egg wash)
• 2 tablespoons milk (for egg wash)
• Granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Chocolate Walnut Filling:

• 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup golden raisins (optional)

Apricot Filling:

• 1/2 cup good-quality apricot jam, warmed and strained
• 1/4 cup finely chopped dried apricots
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or almonds
• Pinch of cardamom (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the dough. Pulse flour and salt in a food processor to combine. Add cold cream cheese and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized pieces of fat remaining. Add sour cream and pulse just until the dough begins to come together. Do not over-mix. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, divide into 3 equal disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Cold dough is essential for flaky, tender rugelach.
2. Prepare your fillings. Combine the chocolate walnut ingredients in a small bowl. Combine the cinnamon sugar ingredients in a second bowl. Warm the apricot jam gently and stir in the dried apricots, nuts, and cardamom. Set all three aside at room temperature so they spread easily.
3. Preheat and line. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk together the egg yolk and milk for the egg wash.
4. Roll and fill — chocolate walnut. On a lightly floured surface, roll one dough disk into a circle roughly 11 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Brush lightly with melted butter from the filling, then scatter the chocolate walnut mixture evenly over the surface, pressing gently so it adheres. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the circle into 16 wedges (like a pizza). Starting at the wide outer edge, roll each wedge tightly toward the point, curving the ends slightly inward to form a crescent. Place point-side down on the prepared sheet.
5. Roll and fill — cinnamon sugar. Roll the second disk the same way. Brush with melted butter, scatter the cinnamon sugar mixture (and raisins if using) over the surface. Cut and roll into 16 crescents as above.
6. Roll and fill — apricot. Roll the third disk thin — slightly thinner than the others, if possible. Spread the warmed apricot jam in a very thin, even layer to within 1/2 inch of the edge; scatter the chopped apricots and nuts. Cut and roll into 16 crescents, curling each one with care. This is the one worth the extra attention.
7. Egg wash and sugar. Brush all the rugelach lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar. Refrigerate the shaped rugelach on the baking sheets for 15 minutes while the oven finishes heating — this helps them hold their shape.
8. Bake. Bake one sheet at a time for 20–24 minutes, until the rugelach are deep golden brown on top and the bottoms are lightly colored. If they are pale they will be doughy; err on the side of baking them fully. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before packing into tins.
9. Store and share. Rugelach keep at room temperature in an airtight tin for up to 5 days, or freeze beautifully for up to 2 months. When filling gift tins, consider adding extra apricot for anyone who might prefer the flavors their grandmother preferred.

Nutrition (per rugelach, average across all three flavors)

Calories: 118 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 11g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 45mg