Gluten-free Apple, Walnut Rugelach
This healthy rugelach is made with apples, walnuts, and raisins for a naturally sweet snack. It’s also gluten-free and delicious!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 24-36 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Jewish
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Dough
- 1 cup of butter (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup of cream cheese (at room temperature)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar or date sugar (see notes)
- Zest from 1 orange
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/4 cup of gluten-free flour blend (see notes)
Filling
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- 4 medium apples, grated
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup raisins, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 cup of walnuts, toasted and chopped
Instructions
- Cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until smooth and soft. Add in the orange zest and eggs, and beat until well combined. Mix in the flour until a dough is formed. This may require a bit of kneading.
- If you want to ferment the dough, leave it to rest at room temperature for 2-6 hours. See the section above for more details on fermenting the dough. Otherwise, leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes while you put together the filling. The dough can also be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To make the filling, mix the grated apple with lemon juice, cinnamon, and chopped raisins. Then stir in the walnuts.
- To form the rugelach, divide the dough into three balls. Roll one ball out into a large circle, it should be about 1/4-inch (5 mm) thick.
- Spread a thin layer of cream cheese over the circle, then sprinkle on 1/3 of the filling.
- Cut the circle into 8 or 12 triangular wedges (depending on if you want large or small rugelach.)
- Carefully roll the rugelach into a crescent shape. Place on a cookie sheet. They can be packed quite closely as they won’t rise very much. See the section above for more details, including photos, to help you form the rugelach.
- Repeat the process with each of the other two balls of dough.
- To get a puffier pastry, chill the formed rugelach for 30 minutes in the fridge before baking. For a crisp brown pastry, glaze with a beaten egg. (I haven’t done that for the photos).
- Bake for 20-30 minutes at 375F, rotating halfway through to ensure even baking. Serve right away, or freeze for longer storage. (See the section above for details).
Notes
- Using brown sugar or date sugar is the easiest way to cream the butter and cream cheese. Date sugar is not the same thing as chopped dates or date puree. It is a dry, sugar-like powder made from dates. I have made this with date sugar a number of times. The dough will be slightly drier, but still delicious!
- Feel free to use your favorite gluten-free flour. Or try making your own gluten-free baking flour mix.
- For a sweeter pastry replace the chopped raisins with a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. If the pastries still aren’t sweet enough, then sprinkle them with icing sugar before serving.