Pistachio Rugelach Recipe

I made my pistachio rugelach for the Channukah/Christmas season, and their sweet spiciness makes them the perfect holiday cookie in general.

My pistachio rugelach are insanely buttery, with a delicate bite and a nutty crunch. I added a little ground cardamom to the spiced sugar mix because it goes so well both with cinnamon and pistachio, and makes them even more festive.

The dough is super rich thanks to the mixture of butter, cream cheese and egg yolk. These are such a treat, and will go down fast (they did in my household!).

You can also watch me make these on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

(Makes 48 rugelach cookies.)

Ingredients for Rugelach Dough:

225g cold unsalted butter
225g full fat cream cheese
1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt
350g plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar

Ingredients for Filling:

150g caster sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
50g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
100g chopped pistachios

To Roll:

A little extra plain flour

Method:

1. Put all the dough ingredients in a large bowl and massage with your hands, kneading as it comes together to form a soft dough. Or, if you have a food processor, simply dump all the dough ingredients in that and pulse until they form a dough.

2. Divide the dough into four even portions, roll into balls, flatten out a little into fat discs and cover each with clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for an hour.

3. Meanwhile, stir the caster sugar, cinnamon and cardamom together in a small bowl.

4. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a couple of large baking sheets with nonstick baking parchment.

5. Take a dough disc, place it on a lightly-floured clean surface, sprinkle over a little more flour, and roll the dough out into a larger disc until about 3–5mm thick.

6. Brush over a quarter of the melted butter, sprinkle over a quarter of your chopped pistachios, and sprinkle over a quarter of your spiced sugar.

7. Using a pizza cutter or knife, slice the dough into 12 triangles.

8. Roll each triangle up from the widest 'outside' edge into the point in the middle, creating croissant-ish rolls, and place each roll on your lined baking sheets. Place them about an inch apart to let them spread a little.

9. Repeat with the rest of your dough and filling, and bake for 15–20 minutes or until golden brown.

Leave to cool a little before enjoying.