Rugelach is a beloved Jewish treasure originating from Eastern Europe. The cookie-pastry hybrid can be filled with anything from jam to chocolate and is the perfect two-bite treat fit for any holiday spread. This version, a classic chocolate rugelach bolstered with the flavors of creamy milk chocolate and malted milk powder, has a nostalgic flavor and tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture that will shine at any cookie swap.

Recipe

16 Rugelach 

Dough

• 2 1/4 cups (288g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (40g) malted milk powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks/226g) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 8 ounces (226g) cold cream cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes

Malted Milk Chocolate Filling

• 4 ounces (about ⅔ cup/113g) milk chocolate chips or chopped milk chocolate
• 1/3 cup (53g) malted milk powder
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (6g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg, for egg wash, plus more if needed
• sanding sugar, for sprinkling

1. Make the dough: In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, combine the flour, sugar, ¼ cup malted milk powder, and salt. Process until combined, 10 to 15 seconds. Add the butter and cream cheese and process until a rough, shaggy dough forms that just starts to pull away from the sides of the food processor, 30 to 45 seconds. (If you don’t have a food processor you can pinch and knead the butter and cream cheese into the dry ingredients using clean hands as if you are making pie dough.) Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, cut in half, and roughly form each half into a rectangle. (Wipe out the food processor, but don’t wash it.) Tightly cover in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.
2. Make the filling: Place the chocolate chips, malted milk powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and process until the mixture is the texture of coarse sand, 25 to 35 seconds. (Alternatively, chop the chocolate into a fine dust and mix with the other ingredients.) Transfer into a bowl and set aside. In another small bowl, crack the egg for the egg wash and beat with a fork until no streaks of unincorporated yolk remain.
3. Unwrap one of the chilled doughs, generously dust with flour, and roll into a 11- by 8-inch rectangle. (The dough can get sticky, so use a bit more flour than normal.) Trim the edges to create crisp lines, if desired. Sprinkle about half of the filling onto the dough in an even layer leaving a ½-inch border on the top and bottom, pressing it in with your hands so it sticks and compacts slightly. Brush the top and bottom border with the egg wash. Roll into a spiral shape, brushing the underside of the dough with egg wash each time you roll it over, and transfer onto a sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling and freeze both logs uncovered for 1 hour.
4. As the cookie logs are chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F and set 2 racks at the upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Line 2 baking sheets (you can line the one in the freezer once the logs are done chilling) with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.
5. Brush the chilled dough logs with the egg wash on all sides. (If your egg wash has a lot of chocolate in it, it’s best to make a new one.) Generously sprinkle the tops of the logs with the sanding sugar. Cut the logs into 1½-inch thick slices using a thin sharp knife and place onto the prepared baking sheets spacing at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until lightly browned, then let cool completely on the baking sheet before serving. (If any of the rugelach spread more than you would have liked, just use the back of a spoon to push them back together while still hot from the oven.)

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters (if you're in Apple Podcasts, swipe up on the episode player page—the podcast chapters will be at the bottom).  

If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Anthony starts listing them at 2:16) before starting the episode.

Onion & Olive Bread
makes 1 (12-by-16-inch) pan pizza

Sicilian grandma dough

• 900 grams high-protein flour
• 100 grams whole-grain flour, preferably freshly milled
• 30 grams sea salt
• 720 grams (3 cups) water, at 65°F (18°C)
• 100 grams starter (3 to 5 hours after feeding it at room temperature), or see note about using pre-ferment
• 60 grams extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the pans

Onion & olive bread

• 45 grams green Castelvetrano olives, pitted and sliced (about 8 olives)
• 44 grams Taggiasca olives, pitted and sliced (about 23 olives)
• 45 grams red onion, thinly sliced (about 1/4 medium)
• 12" round pan or 1 half sheet pan (900 grams) Sicilian Grandma Dough
• 40 grams (3 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil
• Large flake or coarse sea salt for garnishSicilian grandma dough

Sicilian grandma dough

1. Weigh all the ingredients in separate containers. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and salt and mix thoroughly with clean hands.
2. In another large mixing bowl, combine the water and starter.
3. Create a crater in the flour and pour the liquids in the center.
4. Begin mixing with your dominant hand. Start in the center of the bowl and mix in a clockwise fashion until the dough comes together, at this point add 60 grams of olive oil and continue to mix until the dough is fully incorporated. Stop mixing, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Perform a series of stretch and folds by stretching and folding the dough onto itself for about 6 minutes.
6. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container with a lid (or a bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap) and let it rest at room temperature. Stretch and fold the dough for 1 minute every 30 minutes for 3 hours (six times).
7. Rest at room temperature (covered) for 30 minutes.
8. Using about 40 grams of olive oil, lightly oil two or three baking pans.
9. Lightly flour your hands, and using a dough cutter and scale, portion then shape the dough (three 700-gram or two 900-gram pieces) into rectangles by folding the edges into themselves.
10. Transfer each dough to the center of a pre-oiled baking pan. Cover each pan with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
11. Lift the dough and press out any air from the bottom of the pan. Carefully stretch the dough to the pan's edges. Using your fingertips, gently dimple the entire length of the dough. Place the onions and olives onto the dough and very gently press until they sink in the dough. Cover and let proof at room temperature for 6-12 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Onion & olive bread

1. Preheat the oven with pizza stones to 475°F (250°C).
2. Drizzle some olive oil on top of the dough and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, if desired.
3. Put the pan in the oven directly on the stone, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
4. Remove the pizza from the pan with an offset spatula and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting.

Is there a recipe you'd like to hear us make? Tell us all about it at [email protected].

Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. 

Recipe
Serves 24

Cake

• Unsalted butter or nonstick cooking spray
• 2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 4 cups chopped peeled apples (about 3 large; I like a
  mix of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious)

Glaze

• 4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter
• 3⁄4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon whole milk

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the center position. Grease a sheet pan with butter.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, melted butter, and oil until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract and whisk well to combine.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough just comes together. Fold in the apples until evenly distributed.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly to the corners with a large offset spatula. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cake is deeply golden and the edges just start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Set the sheet pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool for 20 to 25 minutes
6. Make the glaze: Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring often with a rubber spatula, until the butter turns a toasted, amber color (it will bubble and spit; when it quiets down, check for browning). Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and milk until smooth.
7. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the cooled cake. Let set for 5 minutes.
8. Slice the cake into pieces and serve. The cake is best the day it’s made, but will keep, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Sheet Pan Sweets by Molly Gilbert (‎Union Square & Co., October 2022). Photography by Dana Gallagher.

Is there a recipe you'd like to hear us make? Tell us all about it at [email protected]!

Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Referenced in this episode 

• Simply Genius Cookbook
• Tara O'Brady's Genius Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Tara O'Brady on Substack

Genius-Hunter Extra Credit

• Tara O'Brady's Website
• Tara O'Brady's Instagram

eferenced in this episode 

• Simply Genius Cookbook
• Heidi Swanson's Genius 5-Minute Tomato Sauce

Have a genius recipe you'd like to share? Tell me all about it at [email protected].

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This episode of Burnt Toast was produced by Gabrielle Lewis and Kenzi Wilbur. Thanks also to Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, the founders of Food52— and to Laura Mayer and Andy Bowers at Panoply. 
Our ad and theme music is by Joshua Rule Dobson; All other music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions. Our logo is designed by Abbey Lossing. 
Please let us know what you think of the show—leave us a review on iTunes. Or get in touch: You can email us at [email protected].