We just can’t stop with the buns in the ovens over here, people.
After a long day of demonstrations at the Lodge, Ree and I decided to take it extra easy last Sunday. Or at least, I did, but when I find out what Ree puts in her coffee that gives her so much energy, I promise, you’ll hear it here first. Ree showed up in the early afternoon with a batch of her cinnamon roll dough, rising, and gave me a challenge: “I want you to put your own Smitten Kitchen spin on my recipe,” she said.
I protested. “Nooo! Please don’t make me!” You see, I firmly believe that things that are not broken (and oh, The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls are anything but broken, a conclusion I came to after… let’s just say many “tastings”; ranch life is indeed hard.) should not be “fixed”. Nothing good could come of this. I’d make something that I am would be edible and possibly even tasty, but would anyone choose it over classic cinnamon buns? Oh, heck no. Even I wouldn’t.
And no sooner did I launch my protest did my I come to fixate on a small idea, and by “idea” I mean a small box on the other counter, with a single cookie left it in it — a chocolate-orange rugelach from Russ and Daughters. This was part of the Lower East Side Care Package we brought with us (more on that soon) to Oklahoma, and I immediately started the comparison: Rugelach have butter. Rugelach have cinnamon sugar…
But rugelach — tiny cream cheese patries traditionally from Eastern Europe that like all good things, I have shamelessly hacked on this site — don’t just stop with butter and cinnamon sugar. They add jam. Dried fruit. Chopped nuts. And if you’re really, really lucky, some tiny chocolate bits. And when I imagined them cross-hacked with a soft cinnamon bun roll, I knew I was onto something great. Or maybe I was just really hungry. Equally possible.
Might they be the only thing on earth more exciting than cinnamon roll? Oh, I would never go there. But wow, we loved these rolls. Ree calls them Redneck Rugelach, and I think as someone who lives at the end of a six-mile gravel road, she can get away with that. I’ll stick to Ranch Rugelach, perhaps the most fun thing that came out of the kitchen last weekend.
More Pictures! The Pioneer Woman’s gorgeous photos of the making of Ranch Rugelach, replete with a certain intruding belly.
One year ago: Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad
Two years ago: Chicken Empanada with Chorizo and Olives
Ranch Rugelach
Dough adapted from The Pioneer Woman’s recipe; the filling is a product of my own warped imagination. Thanks be to Katie for jotting down these measurements!
This is the recipe embodiment of what happens when you put The Pioneer Woman and the Smitten Kitchen in the room together — you take a good old cozy country recipe and you, ahem, New York it up. But these were no second-rate cinnamon buns, I promise, but a whole different animal. They were busier and stickier and crunchier and somehow more breakfast-y. Or so I told myself when I had one for my first breakfast (at dawn, before attempting to work cattle) and then one for my second breakfast (driving around in a Jeep and taking pictures is hard work!) a couple hours later. I dare you to argue with a pregnant woman over the righteousness of pastries for breakfast.
Makes 24 muffin-sized buns
Dough
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I haven’t tried this with melted butter instead, but if you do, let us know how it goes)
1/2 cup sugar
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus plenty of extra for flouring the surface
1/2 heaping (slightly more) teaspoon baking powder
1/2 scant (slightly less) teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup jelly or jam (raspberry and/or apricot are traditional, but anything you like will work), divided
6 tablespoons salted butter melted (or unsalted, with a pinch of salt in it), divided
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (although there’s no reason you can’t use any other nut you prefer), divided
2/3 cup finely chopped semisweet chocolate or miniature chocolate chips, divided (optional, but use slightly more dried fruit if you’re omitting this)
2/3 cup dried currants or chopped dark raisins, divided
Glaze
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk, approximately
Make the dough: Mix the milk, vegetable oil and 1/2 cup sugar in a large pot, and heat it until just before it boils. Turn off the heat, remove the pot from the burner, and let it cool for 45 minutes to one hour. When the mixture is lukewarm, sprinkle in the yeast and let it sit for a minute or two before adding the four cups of flour. Stir the mixture together, cover the pot and let it sit for at least an hour. After an hour the dough should be a giant, puffy but still pretty wet. Add another 1/2 cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir the mixture together. Either use it right away, or cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it — overnight or up to a day or two. If it starts to overflow in the pot, press it down.
Roll out the dough: Generously flour a large counter — the dough is very wet and sticky. Dump half the dough onto it, flour your rolling pin well, and roll the dough into a large rectangle about 24 inches wide and as thin as you get it in the other direction (ours ended up about 12 inches deep).
Fill the rolls: Generously spray two 12-cup muffin tins with a cooking spray, or butter them well. Go ahead and spray the flat part too, so if your jam bubbles out of the buns, it will be easier to scrub off. (This is what years of a dishwasher-less experience will teach you!)
Stir together the 1/3 cup sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon and set it aside. Spread one half of your jam evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch margin at the wider ends. (If your jam is cold from the fridge, you can heat it slightly in a small saucepan or in the microwave, not until bubbling hot but until warm enough to easily spread.)
Drizzle three tablespoons melted butter over the jam layer. (Although it would be intuitive to do it in the other order, I was concerned that the jam wouldn’t spread well over the slick melted butter. Plus, I wanted the melted butter to mingle with the cinnamon sugar, as it would in a traditional cinnamon roll. Drooling yet?)
Sprinkle the jam and butter layer with 1/4 cup of the cinnamon-sugar mixture, then half of the nuts, half the chocolate and half the dried fruit.
Starting with the wider side of the rectangle (the one that should be 24 inches), begin to tightly roll the dough, incorporating the filling. Once it is fully rolled up, cut it into two-inch segments with a sharp knife (a serrated knife works great here). Place one in each muffin cup. Sprinkle the tops of the rolls with a tablespoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture and set the tin aside to puff some more, about 20 to 30 minutes. (You could loosely cover it with plastic wrap, but we didn’t bother.)
Repeat this process with the other half of the dough, and the remaining filling ingredients.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake the rolls: Bake your rolls for 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re golden at the edges and the filling looks bubbly. (I was using a convection oven at the Lodge, which is nothing like my oven at home so your baking time may vary. Look for a nice color and that bubbling filling before you take them out.)
Let the rolls mostly cool on a rack.
Make the glaze: Beat the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together in a bowl with an electric mixture until fluffy. From here, you can either spread this frosting on your lukewarm buns, or thin it with milk until it is more of a drizzling consistency. Eat one at once.
Oh! I am looooving it!
Brilliant idea, SK!
Brilliant!
That last picture has me drooling!! These look absolutely delicious.
It’s my birthday today, and I know what I will be making to celebrate…. YUMMY!! Awesome idea!
These look great! I love the idea of putting them into muffin pans!
i love rugelach. I recently bought some goat cheese to make rugelach — switching out the cream cheese.
I was inspired by your cornbread post that also used goat cheese.
They were splendid! Anyways, these look chalk full of goodies. All you ahve to say is butter and cinnamon and jam and jelly… say no more!
Anyways, I am interested in why you boil the milk beforehand and then let it cool before adding the yeast. Does it have any special properties? Does ht emilk have to cool to a certain temp? I guess 45 minutes is sufficient enough to not kill the yeast. Boiling milk… interesting.
fusion!
O.M.G… Can you overnight some of these out to AZ right now..?! I’m sick and can’t cook {{{sniff, cough}}}. They look so amazing! ;-)
YIPPEE!! I’ve been waiting, patiently.
What do you think I have rising on the counter as speak?
Looking forward to them. Thank you!
Wow! They’re like huge cinnamon buns, but better. It’s too much to handle!
i have to say, with that title and that pic, at first i was confused why anyone would put ranch dressing on a rugelach. i should have known you would never do such a thing!
can’t wait to try them. i’m thinking mother’s day, oh yeah!!
i was desperate to hear about the outcome of this experiment. i would like to sink my teeth into one of these right now.
This is totally brilliant. I haven’t had rugelach for a long time, because once you start…
After resisting making her cinnamon rolls for over a year, I may now be lead down the path to these babies – and wider hips. Dear me.
Ever since Ree hinted at your creation on her site, I’ve been checking your site for the recipe. And I am not disappointed. These look absolutely amazing! I can smell them already.
Clever twist on a cinnamon roll! Very creative. I love it!
What are you doing to me? I’ve just assembled all the stuff for the black bread and now THIS? You’re turning my head, Deb! These look and sound amazing. Next up!
When are you going to tell us about your ranch adventures?
The last three posts have been about Oklahoma! You can see a set of photos (I have a few more to add) over here.
Mmmm….those look amazing. My stomach is growling. I think I am going to have to go make these. Thanks for sharing them with us!
These sound SO good. Le sigh. Adds to ever-growing list of pastries to make.
WOW! Amazing looking buns. Not like Buns of Steel amazing, but yum yum amazing. Gonna have to make these for the boys.
That’s so weird, I’m eating some cinnamon rugelach right now! But I’m sure these are not as good as the ones posted here! I gotta try these!
I wonder if the local bakery would make these for me. . it’d be so much simpler that way ;-)
When I saw the teaser photo of these on Ree’s site last week, I thought they were rugelach at first actually, until she mentioned that you guys were playing with her cinnamon roll dough.
mmm… now that looks like a little piece of heaven!
Tightly wound sticky buns are really UBER rugelach anyway!
Glad you could teach the gals on the ranch some New York baking!
(I doubt Ree needs any teaching!).
Wow! Those look dreamy. Can’t wait to try them.
You guys are a culinary match made in heaven.
I love how they puff up to perfectly fit the muffin tin shape.
You are so creative!!!! And I’m ridiculously jealous that you got to visit the Pioneer Woman and her kitchen. I’m sure the pictures don’t do it justice. I’ve never made rugelach before – I didn’t realize that the dough is pretty much cinnamon roll dough. I could do that! Thanks, as usual, for sharing the recipe
I think being taken out of the comfort zone of your kitchen really gets the culinary creative juices flowing! I’m glad you’re sharing the fruits of your improvisation. This regelach looks great, the filling seems very complex in flavour (in a good way!) to me, not just simply sweet!
I hope you keep enjoying your stay :)
Delicious!
I’m so glad to see you post the throw down results. Can’t wait for the rest of the pictures. This has been a great series at the SK & PW websites. It was so much fun getting the tweets and then checking the websites for the pics. Have you recovered from all that standing and the travel? BTW, you look adorable (not much of a double chin, though) and of course we are all so happy for you and Alex. But maybe no more 18 hour stand-a-thons?
This looks great! I think your idea was a perfect marriage between Oklahoma and New York.
That looks really tasty. Really, really tasty. I don’t have nearly enough time to whip up a batch, so I’ll have to try and remember this one for closer to month end.
when i read the title of this post, i was fairly certain you’d gone crazy and used ranch dressing in rugelach. i would have let this go, given the “bun in the oven” thing, and the goodness of ranch dressing, but it would have been odd.
then i got to thinking that if i omitted sugar in the dough and put in some ranch dressing instead of all of the milk, and used savory ingredients like pepper, dill, sundried tomatoes, and pine nuts in the filling, “ranch rugelach” would actually be kind of ingenious.
shall we try?
I think these are a lot like kipfel (for which I have a recipe somewhere), which is my idea of heaven on earth. Do you know the difference between them? A taste test would be an unimaginable treat!
Wow. Just wow!
I’ve never even had regular rugelach… but I know these must be VERY yummy if they are a brainchild of two fabulous bloggers!
I can’t see my screen for all the drool on it. Can’t wait to try these! :-)
*gg* yeah, never get between a pregnant lady and her food. Ever. The poor guy who cut in front of me at the popcorn cue at the cinema that time, he has learned. ;-)
Those look absolutely delicious, and since cinnamon rolls normally don’t contain nuts and still taste awesome I’m thinking these here creations will be just fine without nuts, too. (I’m allergic to most nuts). So YAY!
Absolute genius!
Well I’ll be damned…I keep saying I’m going to do something with cinnamon roll dough other than make cinnamon rolls. What a great idea! I think this is the answer to “what happens when a mommy rugelach and a daddy cinnamon roll love each other very, very much?”
Sounds brilliant, looks decadent. I want one. Thanks.
Haha, I saw the name “ranch rugelach” and thought the white glaze in the first picture was ranch sauce and I thought, “Wow… Deb’s really lost it… is this the reality of pregnant women??”
I’m just thinking that Wee Perelman is so lucky to have such a creative Mommy! I love rugelach AND cinnamon buns. What a better way to enjoy them both! :)P
Hehe, I like everyone else thought you were referring to ranch dressing in the title….to which I went “ewww.” I think Redneck Rugelach is actually more catchy ;) Love the results of Smitten Kitchen + Pioneer Woman.
Question: Can you explain the addition of baking powder & soda to yeast dough?
How does it improve or change the texture of the buns?
Holy Crap that looks soooo delicious! I’m not sure I’ve ever hated the fact that I’m trying to lose weight right now, more than I do right this moment, looking at this amazing recipe!
What a great idea with the muffin tins! I think I might be up for these once a year or so (making, not eating. i could eat them endlessly, I’m sure)
I have a potluck to go to tomorrow, and I think I might just have to try these if I can find time to get to the store in the morning. Of course something so brilliant and delicious came from a meeting of my two favorite food bloggers!
Gorgeous!
Are you trying to kill me woman? As if CINNAMON ROLLS AREN’T BAD ENOUGH, and RUGELACH isn’t bad enough, you have to go and make orange marmalade rolls with chocolate?
My wedding cake (made by yours truly) was a chocolate and almond cake (think more almond, just bits of chocolate) with an orange marmalade filling and grand marnier frosting.
What if you started with these rolls, but instead of walnuts or pecans you added some almond paste to the filling, and chopped toasted almonds, and then made an icing flavored with grand marnier or cointreau?
OK, must go cook now.
I’m always amaze with what you come up with. This is a genious recipe. Love it.
I am so making these… they looks amazing!!
I love rugelach… my gradnma gave me a big thing of it for christmas and it lased me all of 3 days…
Shiri — The dough is Ree’s recipe, not mine so I am not sure. But I know that it works and that the end result is light and tender and delicious. I’ll be using this dough for now on in my rolls.
OMG! Russ and Daughters! Please tell me you brought her some salt bagles, belly lox and kippered salmon with a bit of onion board too. Ok, I’ve just made myself incredibly hungry again!
Sounds like you came up with a good idea. I’d have been terrified to mess w/ Ree’s recipe!!
What a wonderful idea! When you’re done at the ranch feel free to swing by Vancouver BC :-)
great idea, this looks so tasty.
i love the pics. i love muffins and yeast rugelach.
yum!
Hi, this is what I do with my cinnamon/butter/sugar rolls — and my family loves it… I prebake plenty of them, put in a curver-freezer-box and anytime I need them fresh (for my schoolboy e.g.) I just warm them up in a microwave and done!
(I do it with most of my bakings — e.g. bredrolls, even cupcakes – without the creams of course)…
i love the look of them! i’ve never seen rugelach made in bun form but it’s brilliant!
Just an old world idea made new? Thanks for this one. Best from Santa Barbara, s
Hi Deb I was thinking about doing a trio of stuffed cookies for a special occasion (macarones, cookie ice cream sandwhiches, and rugelach), and I have definately decided your filling would be ideal for the rugelach. But I’m sort of indecisive about the dough… do you prefer this dough or the more traditional cream cheese dough for the ultimate rugelach?
Oh, my! They look delectable. Sorry you aren’t in Louisville this morning, or we could have made these for Derby brunch. Beaten biscuits with country ham pale by comparison next to these beauties.
You and Ree must have had a grand time. Thanks for sharing your creativity!
j — You’re going to make me choose? I’d use these for a brunch and the cookie version for a when you’re putting out little pastries and cookies. I have a pinwheel version in the archives (make sure your dough is very cold — or even frozen — when you slice it so the shape keeps) but also hear that Dorie Greenspan’s more traditionally shaped rugelach are fantastic.
They look divine! Looks like y’all had a blast at the ranch!
Delicious!!! I wish I could have one right now with my coffee.
I live in the country too (not as country as Pioneer Woman) and we just don’t have access to unique items that we can easily get in a city. I have never had rugelach but yesterday my husband surprised me and took me to the ONLY Whole Foods Market in Jax. Florida and I just about wet my pants:) I didn’t know that they had built one in Jax. and it is now only about 40 mins. from my house.We are moving this fall to a suburb of Cincinnati and the first thing I did was see if there was a Whole Foods Market near there:) Anyway, I tried rugelach for the first time yesterday and it was delish. I will be making this recipe next week. I hope you had fun on the ranch and congrats on the baby!
OMGoddess it nearly made me cry!
Oh man… its like a cinnamon bun on crack. Looks yummy!
Wow. Deb. These look stunning. I know what I’m doing tomorrow….. Yum.
Big giant Rugelah?! You crazy, woman! I am drooling right now. Little tiny ones are heavenly, but using PW’s cinnamon roll recipe to make big ones is crazy! You’re da bomb, you cute little pregnant lady!
Those look amazing. Absolutely amazing!
i made them today and they were absolutely delicious.i used melted butter in the dough instead of oil and the result was perfect.great recipie.thanks
I can verify that PW’s dough made with melted butter works – I always make it that way, don’t tell Ree! I can only imagine your rugelach version on top of that heavenly goodness!
Cooking them in a muffin pan is genius.
This is a genius idea! I’m a sucker for cinnamon rolls, warm out of the oven they’re one of my biggest weaknesses. I don’t like adding anything that isn’t traditional, but these might make me change my mind :)
It is hard to say, because there are so many steps in this recipe, and therefore so many places it could go wrong — the sponge, the first proof, the retarding, the boiling, the forming, the baking… But as long as they tasted okay, I would not worry about the shape.
Made them this morning (with butter instead of veggie oil in the dough). The dough isn’t as soft to work (because of the butter solids I’m thinking) . . . but it’s fantabulous!
(My fingers are still sticky!)
Wow..yummy! I love when traditional recipes are given a new spin…looks delicious!
Yummo, these look great!! I was just wondering, how do you pronounce “rugelach”? Is it like “ru-gel-a”? Or do you say the “ch” at the end?
Thanks!
Deb,
You are so bad for my waistline. My Ranch Rugelach are almost ready to pop in the oven. My brother and sister-in-law are in town and I’ll be taking a basket over to them for breakfast. He will inhale them.
Thanks for your creativity!
Mel — I hear it both ways, but I think that it would be “correct” to say the “ch” at the end.
OH, YUM! Those look so dangerous. I gained 60 lbs when I was preg. with all 3 of my children, from eating such sugary things. I’m sure whan you are working a ranch you can eat whatever the stink you want – LUCKY! :)
http://www.authenticwicklesscandles.blogspot.com :)
YUUUUUUUM!!! Love PW cinnamon roll dough–in fact that is how I found her a couple years back, searching for a cinnamon bun recipe online. And the rugelach fusion idea/creation–BRILLIANT! I brought rugleach to Molly of Orangette in NY for her bookreading. Love both of these pastries so much. The idea of baking rugelach in muffin tins also–just perfect. Thank you so much. Ok–gotta go now–off to the kitchen. NOW.
Did you mean (slightly more) for heaping teaspoon, on the dough recipe? These look wonderful!
Yes, oops. Will fix.
Made a batch this weekend, and I can confirm that tossing in a stick of butter when you scald the milk (instead of the oil) works beautifully. You are not kidding when you say it makes a wet and sticky dough–I had to shower everything with flour to keep it from bonding permanently to my counter (of course, it’s raining here, and has been all day, so that may have something to do with it). My dough roll didn’t form as neat a roll as yours did, so the end results weren’t quite so pretty, but they were delicious! I used hazelnuts and a mix of a bunch of jams that I needed to use up (these were a practice batch), and it’s just fantastic. For the main event, I’m going to use raspberry jam and, I think, dried cherries instead of raisins–the rolls and icing are pretty sweet, so I’d like to try more of a tang.
I reserved half the rolls after the final rise and froze them, to see what happens when I thaw and bake. Of course, it’s hard to go too wrong when the last step is covering them with cream cheese icing. Thanks for the recipe!
PW’s recipe for the dough called for 1 Tablespoon of salt. Half is 1 1/2 tsp’s.
Oy vey! What a brilliant idea to marry rugelach and cinnamon rolls. I think I am going to try this. My mother-in-law would go mad for this! Maybe for mother’s day.
i love cinnamon rolls and i love rugelach….you got me with this one!!
Never thought to make my own and it looks like a good amount of work but well worth it.
I am a big rugelach fan. I love how you can fill them with so many different flavour combinations. This is a great spin on an original. I love the cinnamon bun tie in, too. It is one of my favourite sweet breads. I can only imagine how a combination of the two tastes!!
My family loves rugelach. Yours look delicious and so big! I ‘d like to try making them with soaked flour or sprouted flour. It makes for healthier baking.
I have made Ree’s roll dough several times with melted butter instead and it is delicious! I prefer it to the oil.
If I can have one of this for every breakfast, hell! Make every meal a breakfast for me!
I love Ree’s dough recipe. It is by far the best sweet dough recipe I have tried. I however changed out the filling for brown sugar cinnamon/brown sugar cinnamon and pecans or walnuts and also used the cream cheese filling. We were not big coffee/maple flavor people. This recipe is a gift from the dough gods. Ree won me with this one. One day she is going to use my lasagne recipe and then we can come full circle. LOL
Hi Deb, I just have to tell you that I’ve been playing with your Surprise Me! feature for like an hour (in the middle of the night) and have no desire to stop… it’s totally addicting! I’m a relatively new food blogger and have been on the hunt for inspiration lately. That feature is a fun way to get a hefty dose. Thanks, Deb!
Call Bobby Flay, it’s a throwdown!
This actually seems like a bread item I could do; I’m going to remember it for the holidays.
Your food looks fantastic! My wife sent me a link to your site and now I’m hungry. If you were to ever start taking good quality photos of your delicous recipes on the top of granite countertops I would like to see that as well. Keep up the good work!
What a creative genius! Hungry or not…this recipe is totally inspired! I can’t wait to try these out. I adore rugelach in any shape, size, or form. Can’t wait to taste these.
I’ve got these babies in the oven right now and am planning on surprising work tomorrow morning. I suspect they’ll disappear in an instant!
I’m going to call them Kitchen Sink Rugelach, though, as I used everything except the kitchen sink. I cleaned out all the half-empty bags of dried fruit and nuts and the dregs of a jar of jam.
Even my non-sweet-eating husband commented on how good they look!
For Mel: One of them is a rugeleh and some or many of them are rugelach. I guess the plural has prevailed because nobody ever thinks about just one of them.
Love the name, Deb – it suits them well!
All those goodies in the filling are driving me insane – and all I have here is crackers. Damn it.
Looks delicious, might try to make it this weekend.
Deb! You posted this just in time. My friend, who just had a baby, sent me an email requesting that I bake something, “Sweet but not sugary. Substantial, and if you could work in chocolate and nuts somehow, that would be truly amazing.”
I left off the icing since she didn’t want sugary and she absolutely loves them! Exactly what she was craving. Her husband was rather fond of them too but, from the possessive look she gave him, I think he’ll be sneaking any more helpings.
Thank you!
Hi Deb!
I want to bake a batch of these fantabulous thingies for my in-law family this weekend, so I have two questions:
1. How long can you store them before they get hard as stones or before they stop tasting? (I’d bake them on saturday, and share them out on sunday, some of them might possibly be still out there like on monday/tuesday…?)
2. If I put the glaze on them, frosting-style, … and then I pack them up and drive them 500 kilometers through half the country to this “grandma birthday party thing”… is there any chance they still look good & yummy on arrival?
Did I ever tell you, you’re my personal hero? And, god, am I jealous of that cute baby bump of yours! :D
I am sure they’d be good for the next day. Perhaps hold off glazing them until the last minute, so they’ll look the best. Unless you’ve got a great way of packing them up undisturbed. Glad someone thinks the bump is cute – thanks! I miss easily viewing my feet. :)
Thank you!
I’ll try and put the glaze after arrival… and, ehm, you know… viewing your own feet is such an overrated thing… :)
(think about it: our hubbys, I bet half of them haven’t seen their own feet in years… and they all just always seem sooo happy and balanced)
I finally made these today. They are so good. I had to do a double take on the recipe as I thought I had forgotten to put eggs in the dough. It surprised me that there weren’t any since most sweet doughs have them. It’s the filling that appealed to me in this sweet roll. I’m not a huge cinnamon roll fan, so all the goodies in this really caught my attention. I still cut back on the cinnamon in these too so that it didn’t drown out the other flavors. It was perfectly suited to my taste. My son was gah-gah over them. Thanks, Deb.
I’ve been lurking and making a few of your recipes for a while, but I had to post about these. OMG! These are like a combination sticky bun/cinnamon roll… only better. My kitchen has a weird configuration – it’s large, but not a lot of counter space, so I divided the dough into 4 pieces in order to roll it out. I made the dough last night, but didn’t get around to rolling it out until this afternoon. It was the most perfect dough to work with while cold. It wasn’t near as sticky as when I’d put it in the fridge last night. I left out the chocolate chips because my son doesn’t like them. I’m pretty sure he’s really a changeling. :) I, too, made it with all butter instead of oil. Eaten while warm with the glaze is pure heaven. I ate two. :blush: Thanks!
I made these for mother’s day brunch this morning and they were fantastic–rave reviews. Even my picky grandpa took one home for “later.” Thanks!
These sound oh so full of calories, but oh so GOOD! I wonder how I could justify it in my current “healthy” diet?!
Wow, I can’t wait to try these. Grace F I agree its hard on these healthy diets to find anything sweet and good. I will be trying will splenda brand in my mix. Thanks for the great receipe
Deb,
I’m eagerly awaiting your description of the ‘care package’ you brought with you from Russ and Daughters. We love Russ and Daughters and want to bring a care packagewith us to give to a wonderful NY ex-pat who reserved our room at a spectacular BnB in Vermont this summer. Would love to ‘borrow’ some of your creative suggestions.
I completely forgot! I was going to mention it in the bagels post, which came next. We picked up lox and their homemade cream cheese (for the bagels we made) and rugelach. And then knish from Yonah Schimmels and pickles from the Pickle Guys. Her whole fridge smells like pickles now, I swear. With more time, we would have also bought some chocolates from one of these new chocolatiers around. Mm, pretzel truffles…
Guess, you don’t need the umpteenth comment telling you something you already know… but, sorry, I just can’t resist… these were sooo good!!!
Everybody loved them, they survived the long journey w/o problems (I didn’t put any glaze on them in the end) and they were such fun to bake. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Deb!
I just wanted to say that these were a hit with the kids at a spiritual summer camp this past week! I made these in the mini muffin tins and using this recipe it yielded over 90 mini buns! And i topped it all off with your maple syrup cream cheese :D
Wow,
And I thought my grandma knew how to cook!
Thanks
This was a huge hit! I always send my husband to work with a huge tray of goodies for the holidays. I made 4 batches and they were mostly gone by lunchtime! Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes!
just for kicks one day you should try the julia child rugelach. she requires you make your own prune lekvar instead of using jam… its sensationally rich and yummy. im sure yours are fantastic as the pictures attest… its just a fun experiment when you have a few hours to kill :) the lekvar’s also great on toast etc.
I am so excited I found this! I keep thinking about it, and then my mind wanders and I forget for awhile. I’ve bookmarked it now though. I can’t wait to try it when I make my next batch of Ree’s cinnamon rolls!
Deb, you said the dough can be refrigerated for a day or two if necessary; my question is, do you think it’s feasible to make the entire roll and refrigerate them all in the pan overnight? I’m thinking, company is in town, I can prepare them completely the night before and pop them in the oven for breakfast. What do you think?
I think that should work. I haven’t tried it, but theoretically it should. Please let me know how it goes!
I’ve made them by forming the rolls, putting them in the fridge for the night, and baking them the next morning. This worked when I made the dough with butter, which might slow down the rise in the fridge because the fat is solid–just make sure you note how much they’ve risen overnight if you use oil.
very good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deb — these are EXCELLENT. I made half in muffin tins as you suggested and then half lying flat on a cookie sheet. I think I might like the flatter versions even better — they are kind of juicier and dried out less. Although maybe I used slightly more butter on that batch. Anyway, just wanted to toss out there that that’s also an option, for people like me who ran out of muffin tins!
Amazing! Made this for our first Christmas together, and they were a huge hit. And really fun to make together! :)
by the name, I thought you were making rugelach with ranch dressing ;P I am quite relieved to find I was mistaken :)
I made this for my grandmother and the nurses at her nursing home for Christmas morning yesterday. They were described as “sinful” and my grandmother inhaled two of them. I was afraid all the ingredients would be kind of overwhelming, but they were actually really well-balanced. YUM!
These were to die for. I also did the dough, filling, and portioning the night before, the next morning I left them on the counter for just thirty minutes to bring them to room temperature before sticking in the oven. I’m not the best dough-roller just yet and the four or so rolls from the ends came out too tapered and small, and ended up fairly burnt due to their size and my slight overcooking (the centers were harvest-able, though, yum!) The rest of the rolls came out absolutely picture perfect, they were gorgeous and so delectably delicious! And the glaze was so easy to do in my stand mixer. I served the rugelach for brunch next to baked eggs and felt like a culinary rockstar. My guests and boyfriend went crazy for them.
I loved that the dough was made in a big pot, it was the easiest part! Like Deb said above, the extra punch of rising from the baking powder and soda made for an exceptionally light and tender roll. Amazing.
I’m really looking forward to riffing on this recipe with different jams, nuts, and fruits, maybe experiment with some citrus zest or extract in the dough, filling, or glaze. I will also be trying a savory version at some point like someone else mentioned, the dough itself is not very sweet despite the sugar and I think it will lend well to a savory prep.
Anyway, this recipe is an absolute keeper! Love the duo of Deb and Ree!
I have been looking for a cinnamon roll recipe for ages and I think this may have ended the hunt. Why settle for plain old cinnamon rolls when you can have these? Definitely going to be making these in the near future!
P.S. Pastries for breakfast? No arguments here! :)
Update:
Made these for a church event, took three different kinds! Marmalade/cranberry/pecan/chocolate chip, raspberry jam/dried apples/pecan/chocolate chip, and plain cinnamon. SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will be making these quite often!
Saw your suggestion to substitute butter for oil and couldn’t resist temptation. Used a wild Maine blueberry jam. 24 hours later, not a bun remaining. These are absolutely the best breakfast buns EVER!!!
I made this type of breakfast bun as well the Orange ones and the dough is always a bit dry. I use butter not oil. I also halve the batch because 24 is too many for my family (disparage us as you will).
Why is my dough so dense and dry?
Should I just add more milk?
I just made these for the freezer.they look yummy Looking forward to trying them soon! Thanks for another great recipe.
I enjoyed making these but found the jam made them a bit too sweet for my
liking. Next time I would leave that part out, or just add spice to a jam layer with no extra sugar.
I subbed in 1 cup of my sourdough starter for 1 cup milk and that worked very nicely. The tangy taste of the dough was especially nice for the ones we reheated.
I just crept out of bed to gouge chunks out of the bottom in order to taste how much extra cinnamon I’d used. It’s fine, it turns out. This dough was a dream to work with – even swapped in one-quarter white whole wheat flour – and it tastes so much better than storebought king cakes. (I filled this with a little butter, a little chunky brown sugar, and a lot of Vietnamese cinnamon.) Tomorrow morning, I’ll crown it with slightly tart icing and green, yellow, and purple sanding sugar. Happy Mardi Gras!
Ha! Thought these were ‘Ranch’ as in Ranch dressing Rugelach (thought the glaze in the photo was Ranch dressing) glad to see that it is not!
When I first read the title, I thought it was SO WEIRD that you put “ranch” dressing on a pastry! lol. I had to keep reading to find out how this might have tasted good. I’m so glad it didn’t turn out to be that kind of “ranch”.