Gluten-Free Rugelach with Apricot & Walnut Filling

5 from 2 votes

Gluten-Free Rugelach with Apricot & Walnut Filling

Rugelach is a delicious pastry brought to the U.S. by Eastern European Jews and popular in Israel. I'm sharing an authentic gluten-free rugelach recipe made with a delicious flaky pastry and filled with sweet apricot jam and crunchy walnuts. This recipe is from my Aunt Ayala but with a few tweaks to make it gluten-free.

Prep Time45

Cook Time16

Chilling time4

Total Time5 3

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Jewish

Keyword: jewish cookies, rugelach

Servings: rugelach

Calories: 127kcal

Author: Jenny Levine Finke

Equipment

1 Standing mixer with a large bowl and paddle attachment
1 Rolling pin
1 Silpat mat with measurements printed on it (optional)
Plastic wrap
Wax paper
Parchment paper
1 pizza cutter or knife
2 large baking sheets
1 small bowl

Ingredients

For the Pastry Dough

1 cup butter (unsalted) room temperature (two sticks)
8 ounces cream cheese room temperature (1/2 lb)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups gluten-free flour see notes for options + a little extra for dusting the wax paper

For the Filling

17 ounces apricot jam 1 medium-sized jar
1 cup ground walnuts
1 cup currants (golden raisins)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Combine the butter, cream cheese, and two tablespoons of sugar in the large bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high until soft and well combined.
Add the flour and mix on low for 30 seconds, then set the mixer to medium-high speed and blend until the dough holds together in a ball, about 2-3 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball and wrap it with plastic wrap. Place the dough in the fridge to chill for two hours or overnight. Chilling the dough will give the flour time to absorb the wet ingredients and make the dough easier to work with (less sticky).
After chilling the dough, divide it into four equal pieces. Place one of the sections between two pieces of lightly floured wax paper.
Roll out the dough into a 10" circle using a rolling pin. I recommend using a silpat mat with measurements printed on it when rolling out the dough.
If the circle is lopsided, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut off the excess dough, and use the extra dough to fill in the gaps by pinching the dough together and smoothing it out with the rolling pin. Use pizza cutters or a knife to cut off frayed edges until you get a perfect 10-inch circle.
Place the dough disc and bottom piece of wax paper on a baking sheet, then repeat with the other sections until you have four 10-inch circles of dough. Stack the circles on top of each other with wax paper between each disc.
Place the baking sheet with dough in the fridge to chill for two hours or overnight.
Prepare the filling by combining the walnuts, currants, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix and set aside.
Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Peel the wax paper from the bottom of the dough, then place the dough back onto the wax paper. You'll do this because sometimes the dough sticks to the wax paper, and I've found separating the dough from the wax paper is the best way to prevent mishaps when rolling the dough later.
Spread a thin layer of apricot jam on the dough using a butter knife, then cut the dough into 12 equal triangle-shaped wedges, like a pizza. I cut the dough into quarters, then cut each quarter into three equal-sized wedges.
Sprinkle the dough with a light layer of the filling mixture. Don't overfill the rugelach. Less is more.
Roll each one of the wedges into a crescent shape, starting at the edge and rolling inward toward the center. Place each crescent-shaped rugelach on a parchment-lined baking sheet approximately one inch apart. They won't spread, but the filling might leak. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
Bake the rugelach for 16 minutes at 375º F. Remove them from the oven while they're still slightly undercooked but lightly golden brown on top. They will continue to set and cook while they cool on the baking sheet.
Once the cookies are fully cool, top them with confectioner's sugar (optional) and serve.

Notes

Do Not Overcook: Oven temperatures vary, so watch your rugelach carefully. Ayala's original recipe calls for 20 minutes of baking time, but I noticed that the longer baking time caused the filling to leak out and the bottoms to burn. I found 18 minutes to be the perfect cooking time, even though the dough looked like it needed another 1-2 minutes. The rugelach continued to cook on the hot baking sheet and set nicely.

Brown Bottoms Are Okay: Remember, some bottoms will brown or slightly burn. That's okay. It's just the sugar leaking out of the filling. It will still taste delicious. If you notice excess filling leaking out, move the rugelach away from the burnt edges as soon as you remove them from the oven. This will prevent the burnt filling from sticking to the rugleach.

Flour Matters: Be sure to use a high-quality gluten-free flour blend. I haven't had a chance to test this recipe with more than two flour blends because it's time-consuming and expensive. But I can tell you that Better Batter Original All-Purpose Flour Blend and Lorraine's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour (now known as Hand + Heart Gluten-Free) work beautifully. If you try this recipe with another flour blend, please let me know how it turns out. Also, I have not tested this recipe with almond flour or any other grain-free flour.

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Measuring Flour: The dough might become too difficult to work with if you add too much flour to your recipe. Make sure you spoon the flour into your measuring cup, then level the flour with the flat end of a butter knife. Scooping the flour directly packs the flour into the measuring cup, thereby adding too much flour to your recipe. You won't have a light and flaky pastry crust if you use too much flour.

Dairy-Free Alternative: Unfortunately, it isn't easy to make this recipe dairy-free, but you could try it! While it's easy to find vegan, dairy-free butter sticks at the grocery store, it's much more challenging to find dairy-free cream cheese. There are several brands of dairy-free cream cheese on the market that you could try. If you make this recipe dairy-free, please leave a comment to share what you used and how it turned out.

Making It Kosher: Better Batter and Hand + Heart (formerly Lorraine's Gluten-Free) flours are both OU Kosher certified. Better Batter says it's OU pareve. (Lorraine's old packaging is not certified kosher; only the new packaging under the Hand + Heart brand is kosher.)

Jam Swaps: You could use any flavor of jam you like. Authentic rugelach is typically made with apricot jam, but I don't see why you couldn't use another flavor like strawberry or raspberry jam.

Nut Alternative: Ground walnuts taste amazing in this recipe, but you could also use ground pecans or skip the nuts altogether.

Chocolate Rugelach Alternative: Instead of the currant-nut-sugar-cinnamon mixture, you could use chopped-up pieces of chocolate instead. Use either finely chopped dark chocolate chips or a chocolate bar.

Other Rugelach Flavors: While chocolate and apricot are the most authentic rugelach flavors, you could also use a cinnamon and brown sugar filling for a cinnamon bun-like rugelach. Also, consider using homemade apple butter or a fig and poppy seed filling to channel fall flavors. You can choose your favorite fillings and flavors and have fun with the recipe!

Do You Need an Egg Wash? Some rugelach recipes call for you to brush the tops with an egg wash before baking. While doing so will result in a darker-colored rugelach, it's unnecessary and doesn't add much to this recipe.

Wax Paper vs. Parchment Paper: I highly recommend using wax paper to roll out the discs of dough; however, do not put wax paper in the oven. Wax paper can melt and catch fire at high temperatures. Be sure to bake the rugelach on parchment paper and only use the wax paper to assist in rolling out the dough.

Extra Filling: You will likely have leftover filling. You can store it in a zip-top bag and use it the next time you make rugelach.

Storing Leftover Rugelach: Store leftover rugelach at room temperature for three days in an airtight container or for 1 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. For extended storage, freeze the cooked rugelach in a zip-top bag for up to three months. (Tip! Freeze the rolled-out dough discs in your freezer for up to three months, thaw overnight, and proceed with the recipe.)

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