A classic Jewish cookie with Indian inspired flavors! Candied Ginger, Almond and Cardamom Rugelach!
So I’ll admit it, I never would have come up with this flavor rugelach had I not been invited to bake for the Bollywood Meets Borscht Belt fundraiser event here in Austin. Jews and Hindus get together to nosh on tasty food, watch fun performances, and raise money to purchase school supplies for local homeless kids. It was bar “naan” an awesome event! (Sorrrry.) I wanted to take some of my favorite Indian flavors- cardamom, ginger, almonds- and add them to my favorite cookie, the rugelach. Now I’m a Nutella Rugelach girl normally, but these have me converted. So good with a little kick from the ginger and warm spiciness from the cardamom. Here are a few behind the scenes pics from the cookie baking. With my trusty helpers, we made over 500 cookies!!! And only ate a few.
You can see more pics on Instagram and Snapchat (my name is WhatJewWannaEat duh).
And then the event! My friend Amy generously offered to let me wear her sari. You don’t have to tell me twice. Sari, I’m not sari! (Hehe get it?)
The food was all amazing, and I especially enjoyed the Indian dancing. It made me want to take classes! (What’s that you say? You’re too white, Amy? Ohhh.)
This dough and filling comes together super easy, thanks to my friend the food processor. 
If you can’t find candied ginger, check the bulk bins at your supermarket. 
It’s important not to roll out the dough too thick or too thin- a little less than 1/4 inch works best! Then a thin layer of the topping. I pressed it in a little.
Cut into triangles and roll those suckers up!
Cute!
Making it rain. Powdered sugar that is.
Candied Ginger, Almond and Cardamom Rugelach
Ingredients
- For dough:
- ½ cup of sugar
- 3 teaspoons cardamom
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for rolling out dough
- 2 sticks cold unsalted butter 1 cup, cut into chunks (cold ingredients lead to a flaky dough!)
- 6 oz cold cream cheese cut into chunks
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- For filling:
- 2 cups blanched almonds
- 1/2 cup candied ginger
- 1/4 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons cardamom
- 1/2 stick 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 egg yolks with 1 teaspoon of water for egg wash
Instructions
- Place flour, sugar, cardamom salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Then add cold butter, cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla in a food processor and pulse just until combined. You should have a crumbly dough. Do not overmix.
- (If you don't have a food processor, let butter and cream cheese come to room temperature. With a stand or hand mixer with beater attachment or a whisk, cream together butter, cream cheese and sugar just until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Then add in sour cream, vanilla and salt and combine. Lastly, add in flour and cardamom and mix with a spoon or your hands just until combined. This method will lead to a chewier rugelach vs. the flakier cookie with cold ingredients.)
- Lightly flour a clean surface and dump dough onto the surface. Divide the dough into four equal sized balls (I use a scale) and flatten each into a disk. Dough will be slightly sticky. Wrap each disk in saran wrap and chill for two hours or overnight. It also freezes well for up to 2 months.
- When ready to bake, pre heat the oven to 350 F.
- To make filling, pulse almonds and candied ginger in a food processor until broken down into tiny chunks but be careful not to form a paste. Then combine with sugar, honey, cardamom and melted butter.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1 tablespoon water.
- Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface into a 9-10 inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick, keeping the other balls in the fridge until you are ready for them. You can use a pie pan to make an even circle. Make sure to use enough flour to prevent sticking on both sides to prevent sticking, but not so much that the dough gets dry.
- Sprinkle about 1/4 of the filling ingredients evenly onto the circle and gently press into dough.
- Cut the circle into 12 triangles using a pizza cutter or sharp knife. The easiest way to do this is cut the dough into quarters, and then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. Roll up each triangle from the wide end, and secure the tip into the cookie so you have a little spiral. Place cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, with the dough point down, and freeze for 30 minutes to prevent spreading. Then wash with egg wash, sprinkle with more sugar.
- Then bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then finish cooling on cooling racks. EAT!
Notes
So fun Amy ~ and those Rugelach sound amazing!
Thanks! xox
Your recipes look absolutely scrumptious and you are so sweet and clever too! One question: I want to make nutella rugelach with frozen puff pastry as I don’t have a food processor. Please tell me how to make it with puff pastry sheets. Thanks!
Hi Bobbie- Thanks! I’ve never used puff pastry to make rugleach but I would just spread on a thin layer of nutella, nut into triangles and roll. Egg wash and top with sugar. You could make as many as you like!