Rugelach
- 1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- about ½ cup jam (strawberry and raspberry work well)
- coarse sanding sugar (optional)
With your hands or an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and salt. Add the flour one cup at a time and knead until a uniform ball comes together. Split dough into two halves and form a disk out of each half. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.
In two small bowls, put ½ cup breadcrumbs and ¼ cup sugar each and mix until well combined; set aside. Roll out one disk of dough onto a lightly floured work surface until it is about 1/8” thick and measures 12” diameter all around. Cut out a 12” circle and discard the scraps (you won’t have many). Brush the beaten egg around the edges, creating a 1” border (save the leftover beaten egg). Spread half the jam in the middle up to the beaten egg border, then sprinkle one bowl of the bread crumbs mixture on top. Using a pizza cutter, cut the disk into 16 wedges. Starting from the beaten egg border, roll the dough up into a crescent shape and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets, placing about 1” apart. Continue with rest of wedges and then other disk of dough. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Take Rugelach out of fridge and brush remainder of beaten egg on tops of Rugelach. Sprinkle sanding sugar on top (optional). Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden.