Traditional rugelach are made in the form of a crescent by rolling a triangle of dough around a filling.[6][7] Some sources state that the rugelach and the Frenchcroissant share a commonViennese ancestor, crescent-shaped pastries commemorating the lifting of the Turkish siege,[8] possibly a reference to theBattle of Vienna in 1683. This appears to be anurban legend however, as both the rugelach and its supposed ancestor, theKipferl, pre-date the Early Modern era, while the croissant in its modern form did not originate earlier than the 19th century (seeviennoiserie). This leads many to believe that the croissant is simply a descendant of one of these two.
An alternative form is constructed much like astrudel ornut roll, but unlike those, the rolled dough and filling are cut into slices before baking.[9]
The name isYiddish, the historical language ofAshkenazi Jews. The-ach ending (־ך) indicates plural, while theel (־ל) can be a diminutive, as, for example,shtetlekh (שטעטלעך, villages) is the plural ofshtetl (שטעטל, village), the diminutive ofshtot (שטאָט, town). In this case, the root means something like "twist" so the translation would be "little twists," a reference to the shape of thispastry.[8] In this context, note thatrog (ראָג) means "corner" in Yiddish.[10] In Polish, which influenced Yiddish,róg can mean "corner", but can also mean "horn" – both the kind on an animal and the musical instrument. Croissant-shaped pastries, which look like horns, are calledrogale in Polish, seerogal świętomarciński.Rogale is almost identical in pronunciation and meaning to the Yiddish wordrugelach.
Alternatively, some assert that the root isrugel, meaning "royal", possibly a reference to the taste.[11] This explanation is in conflict with Yiddish usage, where the wordkeniglich (קעניגליךּ) is the dominant word meaning "royal".[12]
Rugelach can be made withsour cream orcream cheese doughs,[6][7][8] but there are alsopareve variants (with no dairy ingredients),[13] so that it can be eaten with or after a meat meal and still bekosher. Cream cheese doughs are the most recent, whileyeastleavened[13][14] and sour cream doughs[15][16] are much older.
^Helene Siegel and Karen Gillingham, Ida's Rugelach,Totally Cookies Cookbook, Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, 1995; page 74.
^Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, "The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories," Incompra Press, 2016; p. 126.ISBN978-0-69272625-9
Harkavy, Alexander (1898).יידיש־ענגלישעס ווערטערבוך [A dictionary of the Yiddish language ...: With a treatise on Yiddish reading, orthography and dialectal variations]. New York: The author.OCLC19310482.
Lang, George (1982).George Lang's cuisine of Hungary. New York: Atheneum.
Grosberg Bellin, Mildred (1983).The Jewish cookbook international cooking according to the Jewish dietary laws. New York Bloch.ISBN978-0-8197-0058-2.OCLC614538635.
Klein, Ernest David (1987).A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language (in Hebrew). Macmillan.ISBN978-0-02-917431-9.OCLC462199426.
Aish HaTorah Women's Organization (1988).The Taste of Shabbos: the complete Sabbath cookbook. Jerusalem: Feldheim Publishers.OCLC33036781.
Siegel, Helene; Gillingham, Karen (1995).Totally Cookies Cookbook. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts Publishing.ISBN978-0-89087-757-9.OCLC32312778.
Dembinska, Maria; Thomas, Magdalena; Weaver, William Woys (1999).Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
