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Sour cherry rugelach

Time1 hour 30 minutes
YieldsMakes about 5 dozen cookies
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Holiday cookies can be divided into two categories. There are the picture-perfect cookies we see in the glossy magazines, the ones that make us oooh and ahhh over their dazzling designs and festive colors and look too pretty to eat.

Then there are your family’s favorite holiday cookies: They may not be Martha, but it just wouldn’t be Christmas without them.

This fall we asked readers of the L.A. Times Food section to tell us about those recipes for our first Holiday Cookie Bake-Off, and we asked the public to help us crowd-source their favorites.

More than 350 recipes were submitted online, and almost 80,000 votes were cast. We took the Top 50 vote getters to the folks at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, and students there baked them all off. L.A. Times Food editor Russ Parsons, deputy Food editor Betty Hallock and Times Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter spent one Saturday morning tasting every single one along with Lachlan Sands, dean of Cordon Bleu, Rebecca Marrs, director of career services at Cordon Bleu, and Porsche Reid, a student.

Despite six different judges with 50 cookies to choose from, there was little debate about the top 10 favorites, which were subjected to another round of testing in the L.A. Times Test Kitchen and are presented here.

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Dough

1

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until combined. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the salt, then slowly beat in the flour until thoroughly combined to form the dough.

2

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Flatten the pieces into disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until well-chilled, at least 1 hour.

Filling and assembly

1

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, chopped cherries, walnuts, butter, cinnamon and allspice to make the filling.

2

Unwrap one of the dough disks onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into an 8-inch square. Spread one-eighth of the filling (about one-fourth cup) onto the center of the dough with the back of a spoon, leaving about a one-half-inch border on the top and bottom of the dough.

3

Starting at the top, carefully roll the square into a tight roll like a jelly roll. Using a sharp knife, slice the roll crosswise into three-fourths-inch pieces, discarding the ends.

4

Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough disks. Brush each cookie with beaten egg, then sprinkle with the sanding sugar.

5

Bake until rugelach are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Submitted by Leah Koch of Los Angeles.