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We make this honey, cinnamon and walnut rugelach every year. Featuring a combination of honey, cinnamon, and walnut, they’re perfect for a cozy night in or as a holiday dessert. It’s just not Christmas without these little cookies!
For more Christmas treats, take a look at our extensive recipe collection.
One of the biggest draws of Christmas is time with family steeped in traditions. We are all creatures of habit and anticipation of something familiar is both exciting and comforting.
There are some traditions that my family has inherited from previous generations, but some that we’ve created for ourselves. These amazing rugalech (or rogaliki) are part of the second category.
These tender crescent-shaped cookies have been part of our Christmas baking for the last two decades, and are starting to get a bit of deserved attention in other places as well. These cookies have Eastern European roots but have become popular in North America through the Jewish immigrants.
The name for these little treats comes from the Yiddish word ‘rugal’, which means ‘royal’. You may know them as Rugelach, or possibly Rogalik. A lovely name for a lovely delicacy!
Rugelach Cookie Dough
There are literally hundreds of recipes of Rugelach that are floating around the internet. The biggest difference between them and mine is that most of them use cream cheese to make the dough, which is not authentic at all.
In fact, it is rumoured to be developed by Philadelphia to help with the sale of their brand.
My recipe uses sour cream and after trying many other cream cheese-based recipes, I always come back to mine. I might be partial but I believe my recipe is superior.
Rugelach fillings
Rugelach can be filled in all sorts of ways, depending on your taste and what you have available. This can include:
- Jams such as raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam
- Chocolate chips
- Nutella
- Raisins or currants
- A range of nuts including flaked almonds
But for me, it has to be sugar, ground cinnamon, honey and walnuts. It’s a wonderful combination of warm flavours with just the right amount of sweetness that’s especially good when these are baked in time for Christmas.
Whatever you go with, it’s important the fillings are added in a even, thin layer that can be rolled into the rugelach as the triangles are rolled up.
Making rugalech
Preheat your oven to 350F/180C and line your This is an affiliate link.baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whip your softened butter together with sour cream in a large bowl. Add flour in small portions and continue mixing. Empty the contents of the bowl on floured surface and continue kneading until you have smooth and pliable dough adding a bit more flour if sticky. Cover and let sit for 10 min.
While your dough is resting chop the walnuts finely or process them in a This is an affiliate link.food processor, mix with sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Make sure your honey is spreadable, heat it if needed to achieve the right consistency.
Divide your dough into 4 parts and rolls out each individually into a circle. The dough shouldn’t be thicker than 1 cm. Brush honey on it and divide into 16 even triangles or wedges.
Now sprinkle 1/4 of the nut/cinnamon mixture on your circle.
The next step is the funnest of them all. That’s where the famous rogalik takes its shape. Roll up each triangle starting from the wide end towards the centre of the circle.
Arrange the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush them with the egg wash to make sure they come out a lovely golden brown, and bake them for 25-30 minutes.
These little beauties take a bit of work but I get a profound sense of satisfaction and pride then they are done and put away in lovely Christmas tins!
Recipe Tips and Notes
- I strongly recommend using the parchment paper or a silicone mat because the delicious and gooey filling will leak out a bit and turn into caramel. If you don’t use parchment paper your rogalik will get glued to the baking sheet and will make it stressful to remove. Once baked remove them from the baking sheet to a wire rack while still warm.
- Roll the rugelach dough with a rolling pin into a shape as close to a circle as you can get with an even thickness. Don’t worry if the circle isn’t perfect. When it is rolled out, cut it into triangles, as close to equal portions as you can get, with a knife or pizza cutter.
- The honey needs to be runny enough to spread without disturbing the dough. Sometimes honey can be spreadable at room temperature, but a short time in the microwave may be necessary. The honey will allow the cinnamon sugar mixture and walnuts to stick.
- Chop the walnuts up into small chunks so they can be more evenly distributed while fitting between the layers. A This is an affiliate link.food processor works well for this, but be careful not to turn the walnuts into powder.
Storage and leftovers
As with most cookies, rugelach will keep taste and feel fresh for 3-4 days if kept at room temperature. If you want to keep them longer, pop them in the refrigerator for up to a week. In both cases, they’ll need an This is an affiliate link.airtight container.
Or for even longer storage, they can be frozen for up to 6 months, although I could never wait that long to eat them! Keep them in a sealed bag or in plastic wrap.
More baked Christmas treats
- Christmas Chocolate Cake
- White Christmas Truffle Cake
- Meringue Kisses with Mascarpone Cream
- Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Tart
Honey, Cinnamon and Walnut Rugelach (Rogaliki)
Ingredients
Ingredients for the dough
- 3 cups/350g flour plus extra for rolling
- 1 cup/250ml sour cream, full fat
- 3/4 cup/150gr butter
- 1 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla
Ingredients for the filling:
- 1 1/2 cups/190g walnuts, chopped
- 1 cup/200g sugar
- 1/4 cup/60ml honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 egg for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F/180C and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whip your softened butter together with sour cream and vanilla in a large bowl. Add flour in small portions and continue mixing. Empty the contents of the bowl on floured surface and continue kneading until you have smooth and pliable dough adding a bit more flour if sticky. Cover and let sit for 10 min.
- While your dough is resting chop the walnuts finely or process them in a food processor, mix with sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Make sure your honey is spreadable, heat if needed to achieve the right consistency.
- Divide your dough into 4 parts and rolls out each individually into a circle. The dough shouldn’t be thicker than 1 cm. Brush honey on it and divide into 8 or 16 even triangles.
- Now sprinkle 1/4 of the nut/cinnamon mixture on your circle. Roll up each triangle starting from the wide end towards the centre of the circle.
- Arrange the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush them with the egg wash and bake them for 25-30 minutes.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I mad e these a couple days ago and they are already gone. SO so good! However my filling ran all over the baking sheet. (luckily I followed your advice and lined with parchment paper) I tried to just push it back toward the cookie but I was wondering, is there a trick to keeping the filling in? I realize some will run out but I felt like a lot ran out. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Hi Kelly, I am so glad you enjoyed it. I know what you mean about the filling escaping during the baking process. Unfortunately it’s just the nature of this kind of filling. I think the only way to prevent it to use something that doesn’t melt. The only way I found to manage it is to use parchment paper. 🙂
I absolutely love love love these. have been making then for 2 or 3 years now and not just over Christmas period. Anyone that has tried them loved them so much. Im originally from Poland and we normally fill rogaliki with jam, but these are SO much better. My boyfriend Ethan has been loving them too.
Oh I am so glad you enjoy them, Angelika! We fill them with jam as well but yes, this filling is my favourite too!
Have you tried using any other nuts? My daughter is allergic to walnuts.
You can certainly use other nuts in this recipe. Almonds and pecans will works especially well.