26 Years of Award Winning Baking & Dessert Video Recipes

breakfast & brunch bars & squares cupcakes shortbreads breads youtube channel
about us
recipe index
substitutions
ingredients
glossary
conversions
weight vs volume
easter baking
apple recipes
pumpkin recipes
cranberry recipes
chocolate recipes
healthy baking
eggless recipes
comfort foods
blueberry recipes
biscotti recipes
pudding recipes
english tea party
trifle recipes
ice cream recipes
strawberry recipes
lemon recipes
thanksgiving baking
candy recipes
halloween baking
valentine's baking
christmas cookies
christmas baking
christmas candy
baking history
bibliography

 
Subscribe Now
 

Rugelach Bars Recipe

Printer Friendly Page

Rugalach Bars Recipe

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.

Related Recipes You May Like

Cranberry Pistachio Shortbreads

Gingerbread Men

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

Linzer Cookies

 Raspberry Oatmeal Squares

Raisin Shortbreads

Cream Cheese Dough: Place the cold butter and cream cheese in the bowl of your electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the cream cheese is broken down but the butter is still chunky. Add the flour and salt and, on low speed, beat until crumbly and just beginning to hold together. (There should still be some small pieces 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 the refrigerator several hours or overnight.

Next day make the chocolate filling.

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

In the bowl of your 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 x 13 x 2 inch (23 x 33 x 5 cm) baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper.

Remove one rectangle of the dough from the refrigerator and, between two 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) pieces of waxed paper or parchment paper, roll the dough into a rectangle that is the size of your baking pan. Line your pan with the rolled out dough, trimming as needed. Spread the chocolate filling over the dough. Remove the second dough from the refrigerator and roll it out the same as the first. Place the rolled out dough on top of the chocolate filling, trimming the edges as needed.

Mix the egg yolk and water together in a small bowl, and brush the top of the bars with the glaze. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 350 degree F (177 degree C) oven for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Cut into 1 x 3 inch long bars (2.5 x 7.5 cm).

Makes about 36 - 1 x 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

 

Subscribe Now
 
     
 

 

 

New Videos

   
   

 
 

Contact Us   Privacy Policy

Use of materials on all pages on the domains Joyofbaking.com, joyofbaking.mobi, the Joyofbaking.com Facebook Page, @joyofbaking on Twitter, the Joyofbaking.com RSS Feed, the Joyofbaking.com email list the Joyofbaking1 YouTube Channel and any emails sent from @joyofbaking.com are entirely at the risk of the user and their owner, iFood Media LLC will not be responsible for any damages directly or indirectly resulting from the use.

References cited may include a link to purchase the referenced book or item on Amazon.com. Joyofbaking.com receives a commission on any purchases resulting from these links.

This website and the contents are not endorsed or sponsored by the owner of the "Joy of Cooking" series of books or its publisher Simon & Schuster, Inc. and is not related to the  "Joy the Baker" books and website. Video icons by Asher.

Content in any form may not be copied or used without written permission of Stephanie Jaworski, Joyofbaking.com.  Students and non profit educators may use content without permission with proper credit. 

A baking resource on the Internet since 1997

Copyright  1997 to 2023 iFood Media LLC