Rugelach

Source: Victor Dolcourt

There are as many ways to spell the name of this traditional Jewish pastry as there are fillings to put in them. In the old country, the pastry was made with butter instead of cream cheese or sour cream and they were rolled up and shaped like crescent rolls. We make a long spiral roll-up cut into bite-sized pieces. Can't eat the yummy Costco Rugelach any more? No problem when you make this easy recipe by Hallie Dolcourt. This GF-amended rugelach recipe is very similar to the family's traditional recipe. Works like a dream.

Cream: 1/2C butter or margarine or combination (You can soften it first in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.)
1/2c low fat or full fat sour cream or 8 oz. cream cheese (You can use lite sour cream plus 1/2 T. potato starch. If fat isn't a problem, then use full-fat cream cheese.)
2 T. sugar

Add: 1 egg
Add: 3/4 t. baking soda
Add: 1 heaping teaspoon Xanthan gum
Add: 2 c of your favorite GF flour. (We used 2/3 c Betty Hagman's featherlite mix, and 1-1/3 c. Carol Fenster's sorghum/corn mix.)


Knead a few minutes by hand or spoon, just to amalgamate all of the ingredients well. Divide the dough into two equal balls. Squash ball onto a floured parchment paper surface. Roll out on a floured sheet of parchment paper, using a floured wooden rolling pin and flouring the dough just often enough to keep it from sticking. Roll dough into a rectangle about 1/4" thick or slightly less.

Add your fillings*, roll-up like for a jelly roll. Press the dough together where the cut edge joins the main roll. Slice roll into 1" to 1-1/2" cylinders with a sharp knife, dampened, and place rolls on a parchment covered jelly roll pan or cookie sheet, about 1" apart. These will expand in baking. The rolls - spiral in cross section - will have approximately three complete turns of dough separated by filling.


Bake at 25 mins at 350, or, for convection, 20 mins at 325.

Filling options:
Note: This dough requires the use of sweet and flavorful fillings that are heavily spiced. The dough itself doesn't have a lot of flavor.

- Cinnamon and sugar with optional raisins and/or chopped walnuts

- Preserves or jam spiced with cinnamon (red fruit works the best)

- Honey and chopped walnuts with cinnamon - like for Hamentaschen

- Poppyseed: Check if Solo is GF. If not, then use a recipe from the internet for poppyseed filling that you can make yourself:

Poppy seed Filling

3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups poppy seeds
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 teaspoon almond extract, amaretto liqueur or vanlilla extract

Stir together the sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Set the bowl aside.

Grind the poppy seeds in a blender with about half the milk. Place the poppy seed mixture and the remaining milk in a large, heavy saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir in the reserved sugar-and-cornstarch mixture. Simmer, stirring often, until very thick, a matter of a few minutes. When cool, add the almond extract, amaretto or vanilla extract.