My Cinnamon Rugelach recipe is made with an easy cream cheese rugelach pastry dough and filled with a fragrant cinnamon brown sugar filling. These flaky, tender, bite-sized cookies are the perfect treat for anyone who loves cinnamon rolls.
Cinnamon rolls are probably my very first baking love. I used to bake them for a living, for real life! So the smell of cinnamon sugar and butter is one of my absolute favorite thing about baking season. These Cinnamon Roll Rugelach bring back all the good memories.
I think you will love them too for many reasons. They are so easy to make; the dough is very forgiving and will always turn out super tender. The rugelach filling is simply cinnamon and brown sugar, I use a light brush of melted butter on the surface of the dough just to get the sugar mixture to stick to it. You will likely have most of the ingredients to make them at home; if not they’re just a trip to the grocery store away.
Also, it is super fun to experiment with different rugelach fillings using the same dough. You can add jams, preserves and nuts like these fig and walnut rugelach, or these guava jam, coconut and macadamia rugelach, and these almond paste rugelach.
How to make cinnamon rugelach
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
1. Cream butter and cream cheese together
2. Add sugar, salt and vanilla
3. Form the dough
Sift in the flour and stir until the dough forms. It does not need to be super smooth, so you don’t need to overmix it. The dough will look slightly wet, slightly sticky, and somewhere between a cookie dough and pie dough.
4. Pat into a disk
5. Divide into four
Refrigerating the dough for at least 1 hour will allow the dough to hydrate and make it easier to work with later.
6. Roll out the dough
If your dough has been in the fridge for a while or overnight, it might be too hard to roll straight from the fridge. Just let it sit on the countertop for about 30 minutes to soften, it will be easier to roll.
7. Brush with melted butter
This is to get the cinnamon sugar filling to stick to the dough.
8. Cinnamon sugar filling
9. Cut and shape
Cut into 12 and roll them up into crescent shape cookies. Keep assembled cookies on a lined baking sheet in the refrigerator or freezer while you work with the rest of the dough.
10. Bake
Adjust bake time depending on your oven temperature. If your oven runs a little cooler, you may need to bake a few minutes longer to get the cookies to brown.
Hungry for more?
Easy Rugelach with Cinnamon Sugar Filling
Equipment
- Pizza Wheel
Ingredients
For the Rugelach:
- 8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature, 227 g
- 8 ounce unsalted butter, room temperature, 227 g
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, 47 g
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cup all-purpose flour, 270 g
- Extra flour for rolling
For the cinnamon roll filling:
- ½ cup light brown sugar, tightly packed, 120 g
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Egg wash & topping:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream, or milk, or water
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, 23 g
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Cream the softened 8 oz of unsalted butter and 8 oz of cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl with the paddle attachment on medium high speed until combined and creamy.
- Add ¼ cup of granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until combined and fluffy.
- Sift in 2 cup of all-purpose flour, and stir on low speed until just combined.
- Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and shape into a disk. Divide into four equal portions, shape each into a ball then flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Combine the ½ cup of brown sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small bowl, whisk to distribute evenly.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out into a 9” circle, working with one disk of dough at a time.
- Brush the top of the dough with melted butter leaving about ¼” from the edge clean. Spread a quarter of the brown sugar cinnamon filling over the top, and tap it down lightly to adhere.
- Cut the circle into 12 triangles using a pizza cutter. First cut the circle into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds.
- Roll the larger end of each triangle in to make a crescent shape cookie. Place cookies on a parchment line baking sheet. Keep assembled cookies in the refrigerator or freezer while you repeat the process with the remaining disks of dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Beat one egg with a tablespoon of cream (or milk, or water) to make egg wash.
- Combine 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon in a pinch bowl for the topping.
- Brush egg wash all over the cookies, and sprinkle cinnamon sugar generously over the top.
- Bake for 18 minutes, or longer as needed until cookies are slightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Great directions and delicious cookies! My family loved these.
So glad to hear Carrie! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review ๐
Made these last night! The cookies came out looking and tasting delicious. These are definitely more labor-intensive but the look is worth it in the end. Thanks for a great recipe!
These sound delicious! Have you ever tried freezing the dough before baking? Maybe after rolling into the crescent? I’d love to make a batch of these this weekend, have a few and freeze the rest for later.
Hey Daire, yes you can certainly freeze them after shaping and rolling. I would freeze them in one layer for about 30 minutes to get them frozen and put them in an air tight container, layer parchment paper between each layer if necessary. You can bake from frozen but increase the time a couple minutes.
These look so beautiful and yummy!
Xx Taylor
http://www.lightscameracatwalk.com/
These look so lovely and what a clever idea to use a pizza cutter – that would really make them quite quick
These little treats would be perfect for tea time ! And anything cinnamon does always smell so holiday-ish ๐
Nice recipe!I love the idea of making stuff for your loved ones.Economical,heartfelt and awesome!