Rugelach – Crescent Rolls with a Walnut and Cinnamon Filling

Small crescent shape pastries originate from Austria, dating back to the late 17th century. Later on they spread out first to France following with Eastern Europe. Filled with various fillings ranging from fruit jams to walnuts, poppy seeds, cinnamon and chocolate, this pastry is still very popular throughout Europe and Israel. It is known by the following names: Rugelach (Yiddish), Kipferl (Austria), Kifli (Czech Republic and Hungary), Kipferln (Germany), Kifla (Romania and Serbia).

This recipe got my attention since it is simple, with a few basic ingredients. We are visiting friends tonight and I thought this pastry will be a nice present with a personal touch. Indeed the crescent rolls turned out very tasty with a soft crumbly texture and crisp mouth-feel of caramelized sugar. Subtle cinnamon and its sweet aroma further complemented the rolls’s texture.

If you can, you should make the dough a day ahead and keep it refrigerated overnight. Alternatively, you can make it on the same day but it needs to be kept in the fridge for several hours. The dough can be made in about 10-15 minutes.

The filling is made out of chopped walnuts, sugar and cinnamon. Sugar and cinnamon premixed together are used to sprinkle the dough while rolling it out. Their function is twofold: adding flavor and preventing the dough from sticking to the work surface. No additional flour is used in the process.

Overall it is a fairly simple process that takes about 1.5 hours in total, to roll out the dough, cut and bake. The baking time for each 16 roll batch is sequentially used to roll out and shape the following batch. These consecutive activities yield 64 delicious crescent rolls.

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Rugelach - Crescent Rolls with a Walnut and Cinnamon Filling

A popular old-fashioned pastry with a walnut and cinnamon filling.

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

Austrian

Prep Time

15

Cook Time

80 minutes

Passive Time

4 hours

Servings

crescent rolls

Ingredients

Dough

• 380 g all purpose non bleached flour 3 cups
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 227 g unsalted butter 1 cup, cold, cut into 12 mm (1/2") cubes
• 250 ml sour cream 1 cup

Filling

• 212 g granulated sugar 1 cup
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 100 g walnuts finely chopped

Course Dessert Cuisine Austrian Prep Time 15 Cook Time 80 minutes Passive Time 4 hours Servings crescent rolls Ingredients Dough 380 g all purpose non bleached flour 3 cups 1/2 tsp sea salt 2 tsp dry yeast 227 g unsalted butter 1 cup, cold, cut into 12 mm (1/2") cubes 250 ml sour cream 1 cup Filling 212 g granulated sugar 1 cup 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 100 g walnuts finely chopped

Instructions

Dough

1. Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a medium size bowl.
2. Add and toss the cut butter cubes until fully coated. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until mixture reassembles a coarse meal.
3. Scant sour cream to the flour mixture and stir with a fork until fully incorporated. Use your hands to quickly gather together a shaggy mass until it holds together. Don't overwork it!
4. Put the dough into a large Ziploc bag, pressing out the air or wrap it tightly in a plastic wrap. Flatten the dough in a rectangular or disk shape and refrigerate, minimally 4 hours and ideally overnight.

Filling

1. Whisk the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl and divide into 4 equal portions.
2. Chop the walnuts very finely and divide into 4 equal portions.

Assembly

1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F).
2. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Leave one dough piece out and wrap individually each of other 3 pieces, put them back to the fridge.
3. Using your hands, shape the dough into a flat disk. Sprinkle with one portion of cinnamon/sugar mix and roll out to 38 cm (15") circle. Frequently flip over the stretched dough and sprinkle with the mix. Make sure that all of the cinnamon/sugar mix portion is used.
4. Sprinkle the stretched dough with one portion of chopped walnuts. Spread the walnuts as evenly as you can and press them down lightly.
5. Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut the dough circle into 16 wedges.

   
6. Starting from the base of the each wedge, roll the dough towards the tip or the center of the circle and form a small crescent roll.
7. Place all 16 crescent rolls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place each roll so the tip of the rolled wedge is at the bottom. This will prevent the rolls from uncoiling during baking.

   
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the crescent rolls are golden.
9. Repeat the same process with the other 3 dough portions.
10. Cool the rolls on a wire rack and serve.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition facts:

Serving size: 2 Crescent Rolls

• Total calories: 152
•  Fat calories: 30
  • Total fat: 8.5 g
• Total carbohydrates: 16.4 g
  • Sugar : 7.2 g
• Protein: 2.28 g

 

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