Every winter my mother in law makes a giant batch of the most amazing little maple snail cookies. I have been obsessed with them for years. At holiday gatherings, the entire family shamelessly eats them by the handful. I have a feeling that I'm not the only family member who hoards them. Since we aren't able to head home for the holidays this year, I won't be stuffing my purse to the gills with those sought after maple snails. So, I had to come up with a recipe that reflects the flavors and evokes the lasting memories of engaging in a mortal lock with my brother in law over the last of the treats.
I recently realized that the maple snails have a similar shape and dough as the festive Jewish holiday cookie, rugelach, and that got my wheels turning. Rugelach is essentially a croissant inspired cookie, using a flaky pastry dough rolled around a nutty sweet filling. In this recipe for Maple Walnut Rugelach, I took inspiration from my mother in law's famous maple snails and incorporated a sweet maple, nutty brown sugar and cinnamon filling, then glazed the tops with a drizzle of creamy maple glaze to double down on the maple flavor. While simultaneously crumbly and soft, they are the perfect little indulgence of maple sweetness and buttery flaky pastry with your morning cup of joe, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or a nightcap before hitting the hay.
While they don't quite taste the same as the maple snails, these Maple Walnut Rugelach bring me sweet memories and warm heart this time of year.
Recipe
Maple Walnut Rugelach
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Description
Maple Walnut Rugelach; a flaky, buttery pastry crescent swirled around a nutty, maple sweet & cinnamon spiced filling & drizzled with a creamy maple glaze.
Ingredients
Rugelach Dough
- cream cheese (softened - 8 ounces)
- unsalted butter at room temperature - 1 cup (2 sticks)
- granulated sugar - ¼ cup
- salt - ½ teaspoon
- pure vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
- all purpose flour - 2 cups plus ¼ cup for rolling Filling
- brown sugar - ½ cup
- granulated sugar - ¼ cup
- walnuts (lightly toasted - 2 cups)
- cinnamon - 2 teaspoons
- maple syrup - ¼ cup
Maple Glaze
- powdered sugar (sifted - 1 cup)
- maple syrup - 3 tablespoons
- cream - 2 tablespoons
Instructions
Rugelach Dough
- Cream the cheese and butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix until light and fluffy; about 5 minutes .
- Add the vanilla, sugar and salt and mix until light and fluffy.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour and mix until just combined.
- Transfer the dough onto a well-floured surface and roll it into a tight ball then flatten into a disk.
- Cut the disk into quarters, roll each quarter into a ball and flatten each into a disk. Wrap individually in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. *Chilling the dough is essential to forming the rugelach, if you rush this process they dough wont have enough time to rest and will be very hard to shape.
Filling
- Finely chop the walnuts. In a mixing bowl, combine the walnuts, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and maple syrup until well mixed. Set aside.
- Liberally flour a surface and roll each ball of dough into a 9-ish inch circle. Evenly spread the dough rounds with a heaping ½ cup of of filling, making sure to go all the way to the edge.
- Use a rolling pin to gently roll the filling evenly into the dough. Cut the topped rounds into 12 equal pizza wedges, by cutting the whole rounds in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge inward until a snail shape is formed.
- Place the snails with their points tucked under, on a lined baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes.
Assemble and Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Arrange rugelach on a baking sheet, 9-10 per sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until they begin to turn a golden brown. Allow to cool on baking sheets.
Glaze
- In a small mixing bowl combine sifted powdered sugar, maple syrup and cream together. Whisk until smooth and the glaze runs of the whisk in a smooth ribbon. Add more powdered sugar if too runny or maple maple syrup if too thick.
- Drizzle over cooled rugelach and allow glaze to set.
- Enjoy the Maple Walnut Rugelach by the handful!
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Sabrina says
These look really great! I love rugelach 🙂
beckysue says
Thanks Sabrina! I made two batches in a week and they were both gone in the blink of an eye. Rugelach is the best! <3