Easy Gluten Free Rugelach

If you love traditional rugelach, these gluten free rugelach will be a fun new flavor to try! Fill with your favorite fillings and enjoy. These homemade rugelach cookies are popular for Hanukkah or anytime!

Traditional rugelach is a Jewish cookie with chocolate and nuts found in many bakeries and cafes. Mr. Fearless Dining's grandmother used to make rugelach, and the cookie was so flaky it just melted in my mouth.

These cookies are like a flaky rolled cookie that is very similar to a pastry. In case you are wondering, how do you even say this cookie's name? Rugelach pronunciation is rug-eh-lach. It just rolls off the tongue :-).

If you love cookies as much as we do, you will want to try all of my Gluten Free Cookies recipes!

What kind of fillings can you use?

I have made many flavors of gluten free rugelach, both traditional and non-traditional. Here are some more ideas:

• Spread Nutella and chopped nuts on the dough.
• Chopped nuts - pecans and walnuts are the most popular
• Chocolate - gluten free chocolate chip rugelach is one of my favorites!
• Cinnamon sugar - these taste like cinnamon rolls
• Strawberry or other fruity jams - I love to make strawberry white chocolate rugelach!

Why this rugelach recipe is great:

This gluten free rugelach recipe is perfectly flaky and firm and nestles the filling beautifully through every dough roll. You can make this cookie in the traditional way of rolling pie wedges or make it with strips of dough in a spiral shape.

The sky is the limit on fillings you can use, and you can make these cookies with the kids for a fun kitchen project! Consider this a rugelach dough base for your favorite fillings!

What you need to make this:

Ingredient notes:

• Gluten free flour blend - I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF, Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend, and Authentic Foods Multi Blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
• Xanthan gum or guar gum - if your gluten free blend doesn't include one of these, you must add it.
• Cream cheese - I recommend using full-fat cream cheese.
• Mix-ins like chocolate chips, nuts, and dried fruits

Recipe step-by-step directions:

Step 1: Add all of your dry ingredients to the bowl, add the wet ingredients, and mix. (Make sure your cream cheese and butter are softened.) You can also mix these in a standing mixer if you prefer.

Step 2: Your dough will look firm like this.

Step 3: Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. You will want to refrigerate the dough for 45 minutes.

Step 4: Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on wax paper. Add a piece of wax paper on top and roll it out to ¼ inch thickness.

Step 5: Prepare your mix-in. I use a food chopper to chop the nuts and other mixings so they are more evenly sized for rolling. In this photo, I am using cinnamon, brown sugar, and walnuts. You can also add chocolate chips.

Step 6: Sprinkle the mix-in over the dough. Spread it out evenly.

Step 7: Use a pizza wheel to cut the dough. See what I mean by the rugelach dough looking like a pizza?

Mr. Fearless Dining was walking through the kitchen and thought I was making a pizza at first :-).

Step 8: Very carefully roll the wedges from the widest part to the middle. Place each cookie on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

Step 9: This picture shows the rugelach on the cookie sheet ready to bake.

Step 10: Bake at 350º F for 9-10 minutes, depending on how large your rolls are. Here is the baked rugelach ready to eat!

Here is the gluten free chocolate chip rugelach I made last week. This shows the spiral method by using long rectangular strips of dough instead of cutting the dough like a pizza.

With a little effort, these are delicious cookies that your whole family will gobble up! Dust with powdered sugar for a pretty effect.

We are cookie fanatics here at Fearless Dining. If you are looking for cookies, you will want to check out all of my best gluten free cookies recipes.

Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ:

More gluten free cookie recipes to try:

• Gluten Free Rum Raisin Cookies
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Easy Gluten Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Israeli Honey Cookies

📖 Recipe

Gluten Free Rugelach

Sandi Gaertner

Easy gluten free rugelach recipe and step by step photo instructions.

5 from 23 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Chill 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Gluten Free Dessert Recipes

Cuisine American

Servings 24 cookies

Calories 93 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  Standing mixer
• ▢
  Cookie sheet

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ ½ cup butter softened
• ▢ ½ cup cream cheese softened
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sugar
• ▢ dash salt
• ▢ 1 ¾ cup gluten free flour blend * see note
• ▢ ¼ cup +2-3 tablespoons water (add extra tablespoons gradually until you can shape your dough as shown in the photo
• ▢ ¼ cup chocolate chips chopped

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350º F.
• In a large bowl, add dry ingredients and whisk to blend.
• In a small bowl, add cream cheese, butter, water, and vanilla. Mix well with an electric mixer. (Do not add extra tablespoons of water yet.)
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix well. Add extra tablespoons of water one at a time until you get a good dough consistency like shown in my picture above. Refrigerate the dough for 45 minutes.
• Divide the dough in half. Lay out a piece of wax paper. Put the one of the dough balls in the middle of the wax paper and shape into a ball. Place another piece of wax paper on top.
• Use a rolling pin to roll the dough, keeping it in a circle shape until it is ¼ inch thick.
• Spread on your mix-in. I like to use chopped nuts, cinnamon, and sugar. You can also use chocolate chips.
• Spread the mix-in to cover the dough evenly.
• Use a pizza cutting wheel to slice it into thin wedges as shown above in the picture.
• Gently pull a wedge out and roll as shown. Pinch the dough to fix any cracks that happen.
• Place rolled rugelach onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat with the second dough ball.
• Bake for 10 minutes until your cookies are golden like shown above.

Notes

1. I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF, Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend, and Authentic Foods Multi Blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
2. If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
3. If you notice your dough cracking as you roll the rugelach, carefully pinch the cracks back together.
4. These cookies will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.

SPECIAL NOTE

Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn't test, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 93kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 1gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 50mgPotassium: 7mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 186IUCalcium: 14mgIron: 1mg

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Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.