Raspberry & Chocolate Rugelach
רוגעלעך·(ROO-guh-luhkh)
Chapter 5 — Sides, Sweets & Drinks: The Peripheral Experience
Walk into any serious New York appetizing shop, past the smoked whitefish and the scallion schmear, and you will find the undisputed king of the sweets tray. The modern American bagel shop rugelach is a marvel of mid-century ingenuity: a dough made entirely of flour, butter, and cream cheese, without a single grain of sugar to compromise its profoundly flaky, faintly salty character. You make the dough, you leave it the hell alone overnight, and you bake it until the raspberry jam blows out the sides and caramelizes into chewy, burnt-sugar perfection. It is an unapologetic masterpiece of the deli case.
Before you start
Source the correct dairy.
Do not use whipped or spreadable cream cheese sold in tubs. This dough relies entirely on the structural integrity and hydration levels of full-fat, foil-wrapped brick cream cheese.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour2 cup
- full-fat brick cream cheese8 oz
- unsalted butter8 oz
- kosher salt1/2 tsp
- seedless raspberry jam2/3 cup
- bittersweet chocolate4 oz
- granulated sugar1/4 cup
- ground cinnamon1 tbsp
- large egg yolk1 large
- cold water1 tsp
- turbinado sugar2 tbsp
Method
- 01
Cream the fats until completely homogenized.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cool butter and cream cheese on medium speed for exactly 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula to ensure no dense pockets remain.
- 02
Incorporate the dry ingredients gently.
Whisk the flour and kosher salt together, then add them to the mixer bowl all at once. Pulse the mixer on the lowest speed just until the flour disappears into the fat; overmixing will develop gluten and yield a tough, bread-like cookie rather than a shattering pastry.
- 03
Commit to the overnight cold proof.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide it equally into four portions, and shape each into a flat disc. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, a non-negotiable step that hydrates the starches and firms the fat matrix.
- 04
Prepare the filling station.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line two heavy-duty baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and cinnamon, and ensure your jam is warmed and your chocolate is finely chopped.
- 05
Roll the dough to a precise thickness.
Take one disc of dough from the fridge and, on a well-floured surface, use a heavy rolling pin to roll it from the center into a circle exactly 1/8-inch thick, roughly 10 to 11 inches in diameter.
- 06
Apply the filling with restraint.
Using an offset spatula, spread a remarkably thin layer of the warmed raspberry jam across the dough, leaving a bare 1/4-inch border at the outer edge. Sprinkle evenly with a quarter of the cinnamon-sugar mixture, followed by a quarter of the chopped chocolate.
- 07
Slice and shape the crescents.
Using a sharp pizza cutter, slice the circle in half, into quarters, and finally into eighths or twelfths to create long wedges. Starting from the wide outer edge, roll each wedge tightly inward toward the center point, placing the finished crescent point-side down on the parchment.
- 08
Chill, wash, and bake.
Transfer the shaped rugelach to the freezer for 15 minutes to re-chill the butter, creating steam pockets that mimic laminated dough. Brush lightly with the egg wash, sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until deeply golden brown.
- 09
Cool with urgency.
Allow the rugelach to cool on the baking sheet for exactly 5 minutes, then use a thin spatula to transfer them to a wire rack; wait any longer and the leaked, caramelized jam will weld them permanently to the paper.
Notes
Embrace the blowout.
Do not panic if jam oozes out and bubbles on the parchment during the bake. In the lexicon of New York delis, those caramelized, chewy puddles of baked jam stuck to the edges of the rugelach are the chef's treat.
The chocolate conundrum.
Standard grocery store chocolate chips are formulated with stabilizers that prevent them from melting smoothly, and their physical size will tear this delicate dough. Always chop a solid bar of bittersweet chocolate into shards.