Rugelach

rugelach are crescent or half-moon-shaped cookies usually made with a cream-cheese dough. Although popular for Hanukkah and Shavuot (the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah), they are also eaten throughout the year. The name likely derives from the Yiddish or Slavic rog, meaning “horn,” with the addition of lakh, the diminutive plural. Originating in Eastern Europe, and related to Schnecken (sweet buns), Kipfel (bread crescents), and Kupferlin (almond crescents), rugelach are now probably the most popular American Jewish cookies.

Rugelach dough was originally made with yeast, butter, and sour cream, but in the United States, thanks to the popularity of Philadelphia brand cream cheese, it evolved into the short cream-cheese pastry most often encountered today. According to Gil Marks in The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, the first known recipe for rugelach with a cream-cheese dough appeared in The Perfect Hostess, written in 1950 by Mildred O. Knopf, sister-in-law of the publisher Alfred A. Knopf. Mrs. Knopf explained that the recipe came from Nela Rubinstein, wife of the famous pianist Arthur Rubinstein. But it was Mrs. Knopf’s friend Maida Heatter who put rugelach on the culinary map in 1977, when she published her grandmother’s recipe in Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Cookies. This recipe remains the most sought after of all Mrs. Heatter’s recipes and is the prototype for the rugelach most often found today in upscale American bakeries and discount stores like Costco. Like doughnuts and bagels, rugelach now come in a multitude of flavors, even jalapeño, although the most popular are chocolate and apricot. For those who obey the Jewish dietary laws, pareve versions of rugelach using soy-based Coffee Rich creamer and margarine instead of cream cheese are also available.

See also hanukkah and judaism.

1. Marks, Gil. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2010.
2. Nathan, Joan. Jewish Cooking in America. New York: Knopf, 1994.