Rugalach Bars Recipe - Joyofbaking.com *Tested Recipe* (2024)

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Rugelach (also spelled Rugalach or Ruglach) is normally a crescent-shaped, bite-sized East European cookie made with a cream cheese flavored dough and filled with ground chocolate, jam, poppy seeds, dried fruits and/or nuts. For this Rugelach recipe, however, we are not going to make cookies. Instead we are making a large pan of Rugelach Bars which is easier to make and is great for large gatherings or to take to a bake sale.

Rugelach dough is different from other types of pastry in that it contains cream cheese which adds a nice tanginess and makes it very easy to work with. Once the pastry is made it is divided in half, chilled, and then rolled into two rectangles. One rectangle is put on the bottom of your pan and then the filling is evenly spread over the pastry. The filling contains ground chocolate, nuts (pecans or walnuts), chopped dried apricots, orange zest, and a hint of ground cinnamon. If you do not like apricots, you could use raisins, dried cherries, or even dried cranberries. Once the filling is placed in the pan, we then place the second rectangle of pastry on top of the filling. Brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash and some sugar and when these gems come out of the oven, you have a buttery crisp pastry enclosing a delicious filling.


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CreamCheese Dough: Place the cold butter and cream cheese in the bowl of yourelectric mixer. Mix on low speed until the cream cheese is broken down but thebutter is still chunky. Add the flour and salt and, on low speed, beat untilcrumbly and just beginning to hold together. (There should still be some smallpieces of butter visible in the dough.) Divide the dough into two equal pieces.Flatten each piece of dough into a rectangle and wrap in plastic. Chill in therefrigerator several hours or overnight.

Next day make thechocolate filling.

ChocolateFilling: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven.Placethe walnuts or pecans on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes oruntil lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from oven, cool, and then finely chop. Set aside.

In the bowl ofyour food processor, pulse the chopped chocolate until very finely chopped.Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the chopped nuts, sugar, ground cinnamon,dried apricots, orange zest, corn syrup and melted butter. Set aside.

Have ready a 9 x13 x 2 inch (23 x 33 x 5 cm) baking pan that has been lined with parchmentpaper.

Remove onerectangle of the dough from the refrigerator and, between two 9 x 13 inch (23 x33 cm) pieces of waxed paper or parchment paper, roll the dough into arectangle that is the size of your baking pan. Line your pan with the rolled outdough, trimming as needed. Spread the chocolate filling over thedough. Remove the second dough from the refrigerator and roll it out the sameas the first. Place the rolled out dough on top of the chocolate filling,trimming the edges as needed.

Mix the egg yolkand water together in a small bowl, and brush the top of the bars with theglaze. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 350 degree F (177 degree C) oven for about35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack tocool. Cut into 1 x 3 inch long bars (2.5 x 7.5 cm).

Makes about 36 - 1x 3 inch bars

Source:

Stewart, Martha.Holiday Cookies Magazine. December 2001 Issue.

Cream Cheese Dough:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) (160 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese

2 cups (280 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Filling:

1 cup (110 grams) walnuts or pecans

6 ounces (170 grams) semisweet chocolate, cut into pieces

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup dried apricots, finely chopped

Grated zest of one orange

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Glaze:

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

Garnish:

3 tablespoons (40 grams) granulated white sugar or sanding sugar

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