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Home » Recipes » Dessert » Cookies

Rugelach with Fig Jam and Walnuts

By Trang Doan - Dec 18, 2024 (updated Dec 20, 2024) - This post may contain affiliate links.

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Rugelach with fig jam and walnuts piled up on a small plate.

My easy rugelach recipe yields super buttery and tender pastries filled with fig jam, chopped walnuts and cinnamon sugar. These little cookies may be tiny but they are packed with huge delicious flavors thanks to the jammy nutty sugary rugelach filling.

A stack of Fig Jam and Walnut Rugelach on a plate.

I am not Jewish and but I absolutely love making rugelach for the holidays. They are just delicious and one batch makes 4 dozen pastries so it’s shareable :). My rugelach recipe with the cream cheese pastry dough is super easy to make too; it’s rich, tender and oh so irresistible, you will want second or third or fourth… you get the drift.

What I love most about them though is that they are extremely versatile, you can make them with just about any filling. If all you have at home are cinnamon and sugar, no worries, make these simple cinnamon rugelach. Or maybe you are an almond lover like my husband, he loves these almond rugelach. Or perhaps you’re into something completely non-traditional, in that case try these tropical rugelach with guava jam, coconut and macadamias.

Table of Contents
  • What is rugelach pastry?
  • Helpful tools
  • Ingredients and substitutions
  • How to make fig jam and walnut rugelach
  • More baker’s tips
  • Storage
  • 📖 Recipe card

What is rugelach pastry?

Rugelach are a type of Jewish pastries, typically made in the shape of a crescent by rolling a triangular piece of dough around some sort of filling. Their bite size crescent shape can be mistaken for crescent rolls or mini croissants, which is exactly what one of my coworkers called these when I brought them into the office one day, but you can think of them as little cookies.

I make mine with a simple butter and cream cheese pastry dough. There are also versions of these made with sour cream dough or yeast leavened dough. The yeast leavened dough is laminated with butter to be more like a croissant dough.

Traditional rugelach filling can include raisins, walnut, cinnamon, marzipan or almond paste, chocolate, fruit preserves, etc. But you’re only limited by your own imagination.

Helpful tools

Here are some of the equipment I like to use when making this recipe:

  • A stand mixer to make the dough.
  • A bench scraper makes dividing the dough quick and easy. It also helps with scraping and lifting the dough off your surface easily if it happens to stick.
  • A rolling pin to roll it out.
  • And a pizza wheel to make cutting it quick and easy, though you can also use a knife.
Fig Jam and Walnut Rugelach on a plate with a tea cup full of rugelach in the back.

Ingredients and substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:

  1. Cream cheese – full fat brick cream cheese. I don’t recommend using light cream cheese here, you’ll want the full richness in the dough for the most delicious pastries.
  2. Unsalted butter – I don’t recommend substituting salted butter here since it will make the dough saltier than intended.
  3. Sugar – use granulated sugar for the dough and the cinnamon sugar topping, and brown sugar for the filling. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can use granulated sugar for the filling too, but I do like the additional depth of flavor brown sugar brings to the table.
  4. Kosher salt – just a small amount is used in the pastry dough. If you use table salt, use half as much.
  5. Pure vanilla extract
  6. All purpose flour
  7. Fig jam – or fig preserves.
  8. Walnuts – pecans are great substitutes here.
  9. Cinnamon
  10. Egg wash – one whole egg beaten with a tablespoon of cream, milk or water.

How to make fig jam and walnut 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.

Make the dough

First, cream together room temperature butter and cream cheese to combine and make sure there is no lump.

Cream together butter and cream cheese for rugelach dough.

Then add sugar, salt and vanilla extract and beat until combined and fluffy.

Add sugar, salt and vanilla to the creamed butter and cream cheese mixture.

Sift in the flour and stir until the dough forms. It will not be a super smooth dough but more on the soft side and just slightly wet, somewhere between a cookie dough and pie dough.

Add flour to form the rugelach dough.

Scrape the dough out on a floured surface and pat together into a disk. Keep the dough, surface and your hands floured as needed.

Scrape the rugelach dough out of the bowl and shape into a disk.

Divided the large disk into 4 equal portions and forms 4 smaller disks. Wrap each one in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, this will allow the dough to hydrate and make it easier to work with later.

Divide rugelach dough into 4 portions.

Prepare the filling

Toast walnuts in a skillet over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until lightly brown and nutty. Spread them on a cutting board to cool and then chop really finely. Mix the chopped nuts with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon filling for fig rugelach.

Assemble your fig and walnut rugelach

Take a disk of rugelach dough out of the fridge and roll it into a 9″ circle.

Rolling out a disk of rugelach dough.

Spread 2 tablespoons of fig jam over the surface of the dough.

Spreading fig jam over the rolled out rugelach dough.

Spread a quarters of the nut filling on top and press it into the jam to adhere so the filling doesn’t fall out when you roll the cookies up. Some might still fall out but it’s okay.

Spread the walnut brown sugar cinnamon filling over the fig jam.

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.

Cut into 12 triangles and roll into crescent shape cookies.

When ready to bake, brush the little fig rugelach cookies with egg wash and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. Then bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 18 minutes until the top of the cookies are lightly brown.

Add egg wash on top of fig rugelach and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top to prepare for baking.

More baker’s tips

  • Baking time – Adjust bake time depending on your oven temperature. A few of my readers wrote in to note that they had to bake 6 to 10 minutes longer to get the cookies to brown.
  • Kneading the dough – You don’t need to knead the dough excessively. Just run your mixer until the dough comes together, that’s enough. But if you do knead it a little bit longer, it is also okay, this dough is quite forgiving and will stay tender when baked.
  • Let the dough sit at room temp before rolling – 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.

Storage

These fig rugelach will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-5 days. You can also keep them refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before serving.

If you are making these ahead, the rugelach dough, unbaked, can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw and follow directions to assemble them per the recipe.

You can also freeze the unbaked assembled cookies for up to 3 months. Bake directly from frozen and increase the baking time a few minutes until the cookies brown to your liking.

Cross section of Fig Jam and Walnut Rugelach.

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📖 Recipe card

A stack of Fig Jam and Walnut Rugelach on a plate.

Fig and Walnut Rugelach

Buttery, tender Rugelach pastries are filled with fig jam, chopped walnuts and cinnamon sugar. These little cookies may be tiny but they are packed with huge delicious flavors thanks to the jammy nutty sugary rugelach filling.
5 from 7 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes minutes
Resting Time: 1 hour hour
Total Time: 48 minutes minutes
Yield: 48 cookies
Author: Trang

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer
  • French Rolling Pin
  • Pizza Wheel

Ingredients

For the rugelach dough

  • 8 ounce cream cheese (room temperature, 226 g)
  • 8 ounce unsalted butter (room temperature, 226 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 rugelach filling

  • ½ cup fig jam (160 g)
  • 1 cup walnuts (or pecans, finely chopped, 120 g)
  • ¼ cup brown sugar (tightly packed, 64 g)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Egg wash & topping

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon cream (or milk, or water)
  • 2 tablespoon granulated sugar (23 g)
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
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Instructions

  • Cream 8 oz of room temperature unsalted butter and 8 oz of room temperature 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 extract and beat on medium speed until combined and fluffy.
  • Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the 2 cup of all-purpose flour, mix 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.
  • Toast the walnuts in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant and lightly brown. Spread them on a cutting board to cool. Then chop them up finely with a sharp knife or pulverize them a food processor or blender. Combine chopped walnuts with ¼ cup of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small bowl, mix to distribute evenly.
  • Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator and roll out into a 9” circle. Spread 2 tablespoons of fig jam over the dough circle, leaving about ¼” from the edge clean. Spread a quarter of the filling over the jam and lightly press it down, it should stick to the jam.
  • 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 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Beat one whole egg with one tablespoon of cream or milk to make egg wash. Combine 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon in a separate bowl for the topping. Brush egg wash all over the cookies, and sprinkle cinnamon sugar generously over the top.
  • Bake for approximately 18 minutes or longer if needed, until cookies are slightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes

  • Adjust bake time as necessary depending on your oven temperature, a reader noted that she had to bake 10 minutes longer to get the same results.

Nutrition

Serving: 24g | Calories: 103kcal
Course: Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: American, Eastern European
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?If you made this recipe and loved it, please leave a comment and give us a 5 STAR review. Thank you!!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more details on how we utilize affiliates, ads, and sponsored content, see our full disclosure policy. Thank you for your continued support, which enables us to keep bringing you delicious recipes, at no extra cost to you.

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Cinnamon Rugelach »
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. J-Mom

    September 29, 2024 at 9:10 am

    5 stars
    I did have to bake them 10 minutes more (had the dough in the fridge overnight) but otherwise this was really great. Loved the taste and the texture, the finish!

    Reply
    • Trang Doan

      September 29, 2024 at 1:40 pm

      Thank you so much for the feedback! I’m glad you loved these. I’ll note the bake time for other, I think it would be very helpful.

      Reply
    • Rocio Garcia

      October 27, 2024 at 2:46 pm

      5 stars
      This recipe is DELICIOUS!! We tried them with fig and apricot. Thank you for the recipe.

      Reply
      • Trang Doan

        October 27, 2024 at 9:21 pm

        Thank you so much for the 5-star review!

        Reply
  2. Irina

    October 26, 2023 at 12:38 pm

    5 stars
    These were fantastic! Not my mother’s recipe for Romanian cornulete but they taste just as good, dare I say even better! I had to cook mine a good 6-8 min more than the recipe to get them to start to brown.

    Reply
    • Trang Doan

      November 02, 2023 at 1:01 pm

      Thanks for making these Irina! I’m so glad you like them and wow what a compliment to be compared to your mother’s recipe 🙂

      Reply
  3. Sheryl Kelly

    September 24, 2023 at 6:39 pm

    5 stars
    I made the recipe as directed and they were delicious! I’ll make these again.

    Reply
    • Trang Doan

      September 25, 2023 at 2:11 pm

      So glad you like these Sheryl! Thank you for trying it and taking the time to leave a review 🙂

      Reply
  4. Kristin

    December 13, 2020 at 8:58 am

    5 stars
    Delicious and easy recipe – used pear & fig preserves of my own making which worked just fine. Was a bit concerned that I’d worked the dough excessively but it’s resilient and baked up still tender. My Jewish partner, etc. approved of them so that means I’ll bake them again. Thanks for the great recipe, Trang ~

    Reply
    • Trang Doan

      December 13, 2020 at 3:16 pm

      Thanks Kristin! So happy to hear they were approved by your partner!

      Reply
  5. Heather

    September 19, 2019 at 8:20 pm

    5 stars
    I made these with my homemade fig jam. They were great. I crushed my walnuts with a rolling pin, and it worked just fine. I do recommend kneading the dough. I kneaded one half and did the other without kneading. The kneaded disc was much easier to roll out and the slices were much easier to roll up into crescents.
    Thank you for sharing your recipe. I’m definitely going to make it again.

    Reply
    • Trang

      September 19, 2019 at 8:49 pm

      Thanks for the tips Heather and for taking the time to leave a comment! And I’m glad you enjoy them 🙂 I’ll be sure to try kneading them more next time too.

      Reply
    • Judy

      December 13, 2020 at 9:24 am

      Are we rolling the triangles of dough with the filling on top? Won’t this disturb the filling?

      Reply
      • Trang Doan

        December 13, 2020 at 3:15 pm

        Yes are you and yes it will, do your best to press the filling into the dough. Some will fall out but I’m usually able to keep almost all of the filling inside the dough.

        Reply
    • Sue I

      December 18, 2020 at 8:41 am

      Did you knead the dough before refrigerating it or just before rolling it out?
      Thanks.

      Reply
      • Trang Doan

        December 19, 2020 at 12:31 pm

        I would knead before refrigerating, after refrigeration, the dough should be pretty firm and you won’t be able to knead it. But you could just let your mixer go a little bit longer after the dough comes together instead of kneading by hand.

        Reply
        • Sue I

          December 21, 2020 at 8:51 am

          Thank you they came out great!

          Reply
          • Trang Doan

            December 21, 2020 at 6:54 pm

            Awesome!

          • Sherylanne

            December 05, 2023 at 2:56 pm

            Do these freeze well?
            They turned out amazing!
            Used Nutella and Walnut 😊

          • Trang Doan

            December 05, 2023 at 3:55 pm

            Yes, you can freeze them up to 3 months. You can also freeze the unbaked cookies if you want and pop them in the oven whenever you wish.

  6. Natalie

    November 03, 2018 at 12:15 am

    5 stars
    These rugelach look so delicious! I love the combination of figs and walnuts!

    Reply
    • Trang

      November 03, 2018 at 12:34 am

      Thanks Natalie!

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Trang and welcome to my blog. This is where I share recipes from my kitchen. From cookies to cupcakes, to pies and ice cream, to treats for your fur babies, I hope you’ll find something you like and stay a while. Read More…

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