My Aunt Gussie passed away this morning. In honor of her wonderful life, her warmth, love and good food I am reposting her Rugelach recipe. I could always show up at her house and be welcomed with a meal. I think she always cooked extra food, just in case. Aunt Gussie, you will be missed terribly…
I love recipes that come from my mother, aunts or uncles. It never fails, they all have a list of ingredients with quantities like “enough flour to make the dough stiff” or, in the case of these ruggies, “3 cups flour or enough (up to 5 cups).” What is “enough”? Then the directions are “mix and knead and roll flat,” how flat is flat? The food is delicious, but only if you make it right. So today I will try to interpret my aunt’s wonderful rugelach into a recipe with real numbers and directions, while staying true to how I have watched them being made.
One of my favorite thing about my family’s baked goods is that they are all orange juice doughs – baked goods made with orange juice are the BEST!
Aunt Gussie’s Rugelach
3 eggs (from Farmer Kim)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
3 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup mixture of cinnamon & sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips (I used half golden raisins and half dark chocolate chips)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla.
Mix in the salt, baking powder and 3 cups of flour. Knead in an additional 1/2 cup flour until the dough is dry enough to roll.
Roll the dough out to 1/8″ thickness.
Cut it into triangles or diamonds (today I did triangles).
Sprinkle heavily with cinnamon sugar.
Sprinkle with nuts, raisins and/or chocolate chips.
Roll into crescents, pressing in the end point, and place on cookie sheets.
Bake in batches for 12-15 minutes.
Enjoy!
makes 30 – 40 rugelach, depending upon the size you make them.
Related articles
- Recipe for cinnamon-pecan rugelach cookies (o.canada.com)
- Ha! Did I just discover Rugelach? (theecaffeinatedcrow.wordpress.com)
- Rugelach… Rugelwhat? (ferventfoodie.com)





































































