Gluten-Free Rugelach Recipe - Apricot Jam & Walnuts (2024)

Rugelach is a delicious pastry brought to the U.S. by Eastern European Jews and popular in Israel. I’m sharing an authentic gluten-free rugelach recipe made with a delicious flaky pastry and filled with sweet apricot jam and crunchy walnuts. This recipe is from my Aunt Ayala but with a few tweaks to make it gluten-free. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.

Rugelach is a crescent-shaped pastry that is widely popular and loved among the Jewish people. It’s made with a flaky, buttery dough rolled with various fillings such as nuts, chocolate, jam, and various dried fruits.

The origins of rugelach can be traced back to Ashkenazi Jews, who resided primarily in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe. As they migrated and settled in different regions of the world, they brought their culinary traditions, including delicious rugelach, with them.

My Aunt Ayala, who was born in Israel, makes rugelach for all special occasions. Her famous rugelach can be found at every Bas Mitzvah, bris, shiva, and all Jewish holidays. She even baked ten dozen rugelach for my son’s Bar Mitzvah!

I haven’t had a piece of rugelach since I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2012, and I’ve watched with envy as others ate the joyous pastry.

Like me, millions of people with celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or non-celiac gluten sensitivity cannot eat rugelach because it’s traditionally made with wheat flour, which contains gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.

I asked Ayala if I could have her recipe, and much to my surprise, she agreed. She even told me she had successfully made a batch without gluten, and it worked. This gave me hope that I could do it, too.

I took her exact recipe, tested it with several gluten-free flour blends and baking techniques, and came up with a recipe that looks and tastes like the real deal.

I shared my version of Ayala’s rugelach with my friends and family, and everyone loved it. Everyone told me they couldn’t tell it was gluten-free, which is a compliment to any gluten-free baker.

Ingredients For Gluten-Free Rugelach

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this gluten-free rugelach recipe.

For the pastry dough, you’ll need:

Gluten-Free Flour: I tested Ayala’s recipe with two flour blends: Better Batter Original All-Purpose Flour Blend and Lorraine’s All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour (now known as Hand + Heart Gluten-Free). Both flours contain xanthan gum, a necessary ingredient in gluten-free baking. Without it, the dough would crumble.

The rugelach turned out excellent; however, I noticed an every-so-slight aftertaste with Lorraine’s flour and no aftertaste with Better Batter.

Ayala told me she uses Better Batter, which is made from a combination of white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, potato flour, and tapioca starch. In free from the top eight allergens and gluten and corn.

You can get Better Batter for 30% off with my affiliate coupon code, GOODFORYOUGF, on the Better Batter website. You’ll need two cups of it, spoon and leveled (see notes), for this recipe.

Butter: You’ll need one cup (two sticks) of unsalted butter to make the dough. Allow the butter to soften to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.

Cream Cheese: You’ll need eight ounces (1/2 pound) of cream cheese, also at room temperature.

Sugar: You’ll also need two tablespoons of granulated sugar, which will add sweetness to the dough. The dough itself isn’t overly sweet, but the fillings will sufficiently sweeten the rugelach.

For the apricot-walnut filling, you’ll need:

Apricot Jelly: You’ll need 16-18 ounces of apricot jelly or preserves. I use Crofter’s apricot jam or Trader Joe’s apricot preserves.

Walnuts: You’ll need one cup of walnuts ground in your food processor. Walnuts add great texture to the rugelach. Alternatively, you can use ground pecans.

Currants: Add 1 cup of golden raisins to your filling for additional sweetness and texture.

Sugar: You’ll need 1/2 cup of granulated sugar for the filling mixture.

Cinnamon: Add two tablespoons of ground cinnamon to elevate the taste and smell of these delicious pastries.

Please note that the filling for rugelach can differ from person to person and recipe to recipe. See notes below for a chocolate filling and other filling alternatives.

How to Make the Pastry Dough

The first step to making homemade gluten-free rugelach is to make the pastry dough. Start by combining the butter, cream cheese, and two tablespoons of sugar in the large bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high until soft and well combined.

Add the flour and mix on low for 30 seconds, then set the mixer to medium-high speed and blend until the dough holds together in a ball, about 2-3 minutes. Don’t worry about overmixing the flour. Gluten-free flour contains no gluten, so it can’t be overworked.

Form the dough into a ball and wrap it with plastic wrap. Place the dough in your fridge to chill for two hours or overnight. Chilling the dough will give the flour time to absorb the wet ingredients and make the dough easier to work with (less sticky).

After chilling the dough, divide it into four equal pieces. Place one of the sections between two pieces of lightly floured wax paper.

Roll out the dough into a 10″ circle using a rolling pin. I recommend using a silpat mat with measurements printed on it when rolling out the dough.

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If the circle is lopsided, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut off the excess dough, and use the extra dough to fill in the gaps by pinching the dough together and smoothing it out with the rolling pin. Use pizza cutters or a knife to cut off frayed edges until you get a perfect 10-inch circle.

Place the dough disc and bottom piece of wax paper on a baking sheet, then repeat with the other sections until you have four 10-inch circles of dough. Stack the circles on top of each other with wax paper between each disc.

Place the baking sheet with dough in the fridge to chill for two hours or overnight.

How to Assemble the Rugelach

Prepare the filling while the dough chills. For the apricot filling, combine the walnuts, currants, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix and set aside.

Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Peel the wax paper from the bottom of the dough, then place the dough back onto the wax paper. You’ll do this because sometimes the dough sticks to the wax paper, and I’ve found separating the dough from the wax paper is the best way to prevent mishaps when rolling the dough later.

Spread a thin layer of apricot jelly on the dough using a butter knife, then cut the dough into 12 equal triangle-shaped wedges, like a pizza. I cut the dough into quarters, then cut each quarter into three equal-sized wedges.

Sprinkle the dough with a light layer of the filling mixture. Don’t overfill the rugelach. Less is more.

Roll each one of the wedges into a crescent shape, starting at the edge and rolling inward toward the center.

Place each crescent-shaped rugelach on a parchment-lined baking sheet approximately one inch apart. They won’t spread, but the filling might leak. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Bake the rugelach for 18 minutes at 375º F. Remove them from the oven while they’re still slightly undercooked but lightly golden brown on top. They will continue to set and cook while they cool on the baking sheet.

Once the cookies are fully cool, top them with confectioner’s sugar (optional) and serve.

When you bite into the cookie, you’ll notice layers of pastry dough with oozing apricot jam filling and crunchy walnuts. It’s such a culinary experience!

Troubleshooting and Tips

Do Not Overcook: Oven temperatures vary, so watch your rugelach carefully. Ayala’s original recipe calls for 20 minutes of baking time, but I noticed that the longer baking time caused the filling to leak out and the bottoms to burn. I found 18 minutes to be the perfect cooking time, even though the dough looked like it needed another 1-2 minutes. The rugelach continued to cook on the hot baking sheet and set nicely.

Brown Bottoms Are Okay: Remember, some bottoms will brown or slightly burn. That’s okay. It’s just the sugar leaking out of the filling. It will still taste delicious. If you notice excess filling leaking out, move the rugelach away from the burnt edges as soon as you remove them from the oven. This will prevent the burnt filling from sticking to the rugleach.

Flour Matters: Be sure to use a high-quality gluten-free flour blend. I haven’t had a chance to test this recipe with more than two flour blends because it’s time-consuming and expensive. But I can tell you that Better Batter Original All-Purpose Flour Blend and Lorraine’s All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour (now known as Hand + Heart Gluten-Free) work beautifully. If you try this recipe with another flour blend, please let me know how it turns out. Also, I have not tested this recipe with almond flour or any other grain-free flour.

Measuring Flour: The dough might become too difficult to work with if you add too much flour to your recipe. Make sure you spoon the flour into your measuring cup, then level the flour with the flat end of a butter knife. Scooping the flour directly packs the flour into the measuring cup, thereby adding too much flour to your recipe. You won’t have a light and flaky pastry crust if you use too much flour.

Dairy-Free Alternative: Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to make this recipe dairy-free, but you could try it! While it’s easy to find vegan, dairy-free butter sticks at the grocery store, it’s much more challenging to find dairy-free cream cheese. There are several brands of dairy-free cream cheese on the market that you could try. If you make this recipe dairy-free, please leave a comment to share what you used and how it turned out.

Making It Kosher: Better Batter and Hand + Heart (formerly Lorraine’s Gluten-Free) flours are both OU Kosher certified. Better Batter says it’s OU pareve. (Lorraine’s old packaging is not certified kosher; only the new packaging under the Hand + Heart brand is kosher.)

Jam Swaps: You could use any flavor of jam you like. Authentic rugelach is typically made with apricot jam, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use another flavor like strawberry or raspberry jam.

Nut Alternative: Ground walnuts taste amazing in this recipe, but you could also use ground pecans or skip the nuts altogether.

Chocolate Rugelach Alternative: Instead of the currant-nut-sugar-cinnamon mixture, you could use chopped-up pieces of chocolate instead. Use either finely chopped dark chocolate chips or a chocolate bar.

Other Rugelach Flavors: While chocolate and apricot are the most authentic rugelach flavors, you could also use a cinnamon and brown sugar filling for a cinnamon bun-like rugelach. Also, consider using homemade apple butter or a fig and poppy seed filling to channel fall flavors. You can choose your favorite fillings and flavors and have fun with the recipe!

Do You Need an Egg Wash? Some rugelach recipes call for you to brush the tops with an egg wash before baking. While doing so will result in a darker-colored rugelach, it’s unnecessary and doesn’t add much to this recipe.

Wax Paper vs. Parchment Paper: I highly recommend using wax paper to roll out the discs of dough; however, do not put wax paper in the oven. Wax paper can melt and catch fire at high temperatures. Be sure to bake the rugelach on parchment paper and only use the wax paper to assist in rolling out the dough.

Extra Filling: You will likely have leftover filling. You can store it in a zip-top bag and use it the next time you make rugelach.

Storing Leftover Rugelach: Store leftover rugelach at room temperature for three days in an airtight container or for 1 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. For extended storage, freeze the cooked rugelach in a zip-top bag for up to three months. (Tip! Freeze the rolled-out dough discs in your freezer for up to three months, thaw overnight, and proceed with the recipe.)

Ready to Make Rugelach?

Remember, you don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate and enjoy delicious gluten-free rugleach. These crescent-shaped flaky cookies can and should be loved by all.

I hope you’ll consider making these delicious Jewish cookies now or anytime during the holiday season.

And please be sure to thank my Aunt Ayala in the comments. This is her famous recipe, made gluten-free for all!

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