The Best Classic Rugelach: Cocoa or Vanilla Flavors

You always wanted to have a go-to rugelach recipe. Whether you love the chocolate or vanilla versions, your rugelach will now finally be coming out of your own oven. (Perfect for break-the-fast!)

As our kids grow up, they’ve become unofficial ambassadors for BCP.  They help us out with posts like What Does My Daughter Need for Seminary? (yes of course it’s tried and true), What to Pack When Going to Yeshiva Out of Town, How to Gear Up Your Son for Any Sport, and Bored Tween Shares 5 Things to Do

This past winter one of our daughters came home from school telling us that her friend Chayala Weinman’s mother sends baked goods to school every few days and “She’s like the best baker” (emphasis on the like). Mrs. Weinman sends all kinds of cookies: sprinkle, chocolate chip, fruity pebble, and crinkle to school. However, these rugelach are the most popular and the high school girls fight over them. You can make classic cocoa version or the vanilla version. 

If you think you need to be a perfectionist to make beautiful rugelach, it’s not true. See? You don’t have to roll your dough into a perfect circle. The results will still be beautiful.

Smear your dough with oil,

then sprinkle on the filling.


The vanilla filling is a mixture of confectioners’ sugar and vanilla sugar.

We are ready to roll! 


Slice into 24 wedges.


Roll up rugelach-style.


Place on prepared baking sheet.


If rugelach was something you always bought, because you thought it was too involved to make,

now you can finally have your rugelach fresh from the oven (and plenty more to keep in the freezer for next Shabbos!).

4.5 from 4 reviews
Mrs. Weinman’s Rugelach
 
Serves: 96 rugelach
Ingredients
Rugelach Dough:
  • 2 oz fresh yeast or 6 ¾ teaspoon dry yeast
  • 1 cup orange juice, room temperature
  • 5 ¾ cups flour
  • 5 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 3 sticks margarine, at room temperature
  • 3 eggs
Cocoa Filling:
  • Oil, for smearing
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa
Vanilla Filling:
  • Oil, for smearing
  • 3 ½ cups (1 lb) confectioners’ sugar
  • 7 tablespoons vanilla sugar
Instructions
  1. Prepare the dough: Dissolve yeast in orange juice.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flours, sugars, and salt. Add margarine, eggs, and yeast/juice mixture. Knead until smooth.
  3. Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. Divide dough into 4 parts and shape into balls. Roll each part into a circle ⅛ inch thick.
  5. Prepare the filling of your choice (cocoa or vanilla). Combine sugar and cocoa or confectioners’ sugar and vanilla sugar.
  6. Smear dough with oil, then sprinkle on the filling. Spread with cocoa mixture or vanilla mixture. Slice into 24 wedges. Roll up rugelach-style. Place on prepared baking sheet (there is no egg wash necessary on top).
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Between Carpools

Between Carpools is a collaboration between five talented friends who like to get a lot of stuff done “between carpools.” Since 2016, we’ve been sharing home and organizing tips, parenting insights, activities, how-to’s and DIYs, and of course, entertaining ideas, recipes, and inspiring reads both on the site and app.

17 responses to “The Best Classic Rugelach: Cocoa or Vanilla Flavors”

  1. Malkie spiegel Avatar
    Malkie spiegel

    Can you make this with oil?

    1. betweencarpools Avatar
      betweencarpools

      It won’t be the same with oil.

    2. Becky Avatar
      Becky

      Bais yaakov cookbook 2 has a fantastic recipe with oil. Don’t know how it compares but it’s delicious.

  2. L Avatar
    L

    Any alternatives to margarine? Coconut oil maybe? Please let me know. We don’t use margarine.

  3. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Do you think I can use vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar for the filling of vanilla rogelach?

  4. sarah friedman Avatar
    sarah friedman

    made them today! very quick and east recipe! more of a cookie taste then a gooey runny rugela.

    1. C Avatar
      C

      Think it would help to switch the filling?

    2. Rikki Barash Avatar
      Rikki Barash

      same. was too dry. noone cpould eat without a drink

  5. Ruchie Avatar
    Ruchie

    This dough doesn’t need to rise?

  6. Rivka Avatar
    Rivka

    Made them with oil (1 1/4 cups). Sooooooo good and finally a rugelach recipe that’s easy to make!
    Tried to freeze a batch but somehow all disappeared from the freezer within 3 days. Turns out they taste good frozen too.

    1. Julia Avatar
      Julia

      What type of rugelach would you compare them to i.e. like which brand?

  7. Rivka Adler Avatar
    Rivka Adler

    This recipe takes the cake! I used spelt flour (shibolim white spet) so maybe that’s why I had to add apprx another half cup it should not be too sticky. I also used organic sugar and sunflower oil instead of margarine. The result is a mouthwatering soft and extremly tasty pastry. Not dry at all. Disappears faster than you can imagine. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

  8. Rene Avatar
    Rene

    These Came out yum! both flavors! Thank you for sharing this recipe. (Only change… I baked for less as my oven always needs less time.)

  9. c Avatar
    c

    Such a great recipe. I did half filling vanilla and half chocolate so half of each recipe was more then enough.
    A great all around recipe!

  10. clemom Avatar
    clemom

    Does the dough have to rise before or after it is made?

  11. No Mixer Avatar
    No Mixer

    Can this recipe be made by hand?

  12. Rachel Markov Avatar
    Rachel Markov

    I found that the rugelach tasted great, but were very dry. With the second batch, I solved this problem by using a water bath, and they came out fantastic! The steam really softened them up, I highly recommend using this recipe with a water bath.

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