Recipe: Rugelach, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free [Sponsored]

Raspberry Rugelach!

I’ve never had rugelach before because they are traditionally made with nuts. So, I took on a personal challenge to create a nut-free rugelach. And I finally find out what they taste like; like delicious soft, rich and buttery pie crust with a sweet, jammy filling – like fruit pie in a cookie!

My mom taste tested some and I asked her if they tasted right. She said: "YES! Usually they are fatter because they are filled with walnuts and raisins but these are better!" Thanks, mom!

A tale of two ruggies!

Recipe notes:
This recipe isn’t complicated and only has a few ingredients but is it a step-by-step afternoon project. Especially as in my experience GF dough does not like to be frozen overnight. So, my recommendation is to set aside some time, get a nice book/magazine/Netflix show to enjoy while the dough chills and the cookies bake; enjoy the heavenly aroma coming from your kitchen, and know you will soon have tasty ruggies to have a with your tea and coffee and your relaxation/vacation.

This recipe is free from peanuts, tree nuts, wheat & gluten, fish, shellfish. It uses dairy and eggs. And the GF AP flour blend I use may have soy. 

I used home strained whole milk plain yogurt from Dannon. Use your fave Greek yogurt or just strain your own. Here’s how I strain yogurt to make labneh.  Just strain the same way for 3 hours to get Greek yogurt.  

I used Fairway Market organic large eggs.

I used sugar in the raw turbinado sugar (brown sugar) to finishing the rugelach. 

I gave the cookies an egg wash for some added shine, texture and to help the sugar on top stick. And I used my fingers (no pastry brush here!), just dabbed the egg wash on top. 

You can do the dough mixing in a food processor, I did it the old fashioned way: with a pastry cutter and my hands. 

I used Bonne Maman jam for the filling. 

I used Enjoy life baking morsels for the semi-sweet chocolate. 

I used Betty Crocker gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. Here are those ingredients as of March 2018.

I used Domino Crystal Kosher salt.

I made four different types of rugelach: apricot, apricot with cinnamon sugar, raspberry and raspberry-chocolate. All were delicious! Use whatever flavors and tastes you like, the possibilities are endless. Just don’t overfill, two generous tablespoons of jam, spread out, goes a long way on a 9” inch disc of dough. The apricot ones i filled to the edges and there was spillage everywhere (see picture above on the left).

What you’ll need: rolling pin, parchment paper, cookie sheet, offset spatula, pastry cutter (or food processor). 

I bought all of my ingredients at Fairway Market in Manhattan. Fairway Market graciously sponsored the making of these gorgeous rugelach. Thank you, Fairway Market! (*Here are my policies regarding my sponsored posts.*) 


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Recipe: Rugelach, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free [Sponsored]
Makes 32 crescent cookies
Adapted from Barbara on Joan Nathan’s Jewish Cooking Facebook group and The Kitchn

Ingredients:
½ lb (8 ounces or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed
2 cups GF AP flour (add 1/8th cup as needed)
¾ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt 
1 egg yolk
¼ teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 egg with 1 Tablespoon of water for a cookie egg wash
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Fillings:
Apricot jam
Raspberry jam
Chopped semi-sweet chocolate
Cinnamon sugar

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine GF flour salt and cubed butter. 

With a pastry cutter or your fingers, mix the butter into the GF flour mixture until coarse crumbs form.

In your measuring cup, measure out the yogurt and add the egg yolk. 

Mix together with a fork and drizzle the wet mixture by half (half in, mix into the flour, then the second half) over the butter-flour mixture. 

Mix the wet dough with your hands until you can gather it into a ball. (If it feels too sticky, add an addition 1/8 more GF AP flour and continue to mix with hands with a ball of dough comes together easily). 

Once a smooth dough forms, make one large ball, leave it in the mixing bowl, cover it with a saran wrap and set in fridge to chill for an hour *or* to 3 hours. (GF dough doesn’t love being chilled for too long.)

Once chilled, divide the dough into fourths and keep the fourths you’re not using in the fridge as you make a batches of cookies. 

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Sprinkle your work surface generously with GF AP flour. Take that one quarter of dough from the refrigerator, roll the dough from the center out into a circle about 1/8-inch thick and about 9 inches wide. Don't worry if a few cracks form near the edges, just stick them together. Use more flour as needed to prevent sticking. 

With an offset spatula, spread the jam filling in a thin layer evenly over the surface of the dough leaving an inch free at the large end.

Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 slices, like a pizza. 

Beginning at the wide outer edge and moving inward, roll up each wedge. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. 

Dab each cookie with a little egg wash and sprinkle on some turbinado sugar.

Refrigerate cookies on the parchment-lined baking sheet for 30 minutes. (You can make another batch while one chills.)

After chilling, take the cookies straight from the fridge to the oven and bake cookies until golden-brown, 20 to 25 minutes. 

Cool on the sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool. 

Bake the remaining cookies in batches. When one is baking, rollout another batch, fill, roll into crescents and chill. I did in batches of eight, four times and wound up with these beauties.

Enjoy!