This Jewish-Asian cookie pays homage to the crispy, buttery and sweet Jewish pastry: the rugelach and the widely popular Asian dessert filling: black sesame paste. The pastry dough and black sesame paste are rolled together and tossed in turbinado sugar and baked, creating a cookie that is nutty, sweet, buttery and crispy
Have you had a rugelach? Rugelach is a flakey, buttery, croissant-shaped, bite-sized pastry-cookie hybrid that is typically swirled with chocolate or jam. It is affordable and comes in an assortment of flavors. I just love the texture and the balance of the sweet filling and buttery pastry.
I made Adzuki Red Bean Rugelach a few weeks ago and I liked it so much that I had to try and make a black sesame paste version! The black sesame rugelach is so nutty, in taste and smell, that it brings a punch in terms of sensory experience. I would definitely recommend giving it a try if you love black sesame!
Below, you can find the recipe for the Black Sesame Rugelach. Check this post for a homemade Black Sesame Paste recipe.
Black Sesame Rugelach
Ingredients
- 40 g cream cheese chilled
- 40 g unsalted butter chilled
- 45 g all purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3-4 tbsp black sesame paste homemade or store bought
- 1 egg + 1 tsp water
- coarse sugar
Instructions
- Combine flour and salt. Cut cold butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture until a crumbly/sandy mixture forms. Gather the mixture up into a dough ball, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Roll out the dough into a thin disk (about 10inches wide), wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Spread red bean paste over the top of the dough and cut it like a pizza into 12 pieces (I like to cut it in half vertically, then horizontally to create 4 pieces, and then cut each piece individually into thirds). wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Spread black sesame paste over the top of the dough and cut it like a pizza into 12 pieces (I like to cut it in half vertically, then horizontally to create 4 pieces, and then cut each piece individually into thirds).
- Roll up the triangles from the wide part (outside). Place it on a plastic lined plate and repeat with the rest. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Transfer your rugelach to a linned baking sheet. Make the eggwash by beating 1 egg together with 1 tsp water. Brush the top of the cookies with it and generously sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
