In my world view rugelach can be divided into two categories – the yeasty and the cookie. Both are equally great, but they totally satisfy different taste expectations. The cookie dough rugelach we are doing here has a flaky buttery pastry filled to the brim with dried fruit, nuts, jam, and even chocolate if you like. Though you can replace the butter and cream cheese with vegan alternatives, the buttery flavor will be lost in the process, but the texture will still be amazing, aside from that because of the lack of eggs in the recipe this can be made into a vegan cookie with ease.
Each filling recipe will be enough for one recipe of dough below if you want to make both flavors, prepare half the recipe of each filling.
- 315g (11.10 ounces/2 ½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 225g (8 oz /1 cup) unsalted butter or vegan butter alternative, softened
- 225g (8 oz/1 cup) cream cheese or vegan alternative, softened
- 45g (1.60 ounces/4 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For Apricot-Walnut filling:
- 70g (5 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- 1 cup loosely packed golden raisins, chopped
- 1 cup walnut, finely chopped
For Cherry-Chocolate filling:
- 70g (5 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 cup cherry preserves
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
For Berry- Chocolate filling:
- 70g (5 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 cup raspberry preserves
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried berries and cherries, chopped
For Nutella filling:
- 1 cup nutella
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chocolate sprinkles
- Water or Milk for brushing cookies
*Special Equipment
- parchment paper; a small offset spatula
- Whisk together flour and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter, cream cheese (or vegan alternatives) and sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment until combined well.
- Add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined, tip the dough onto a clean and floured work surface and knead until you have a smooth soft dough.
- Gather dough into a ball and divide into four equal pieces, shape each piece into a cube, place the cubes on a plate, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.
For the filling and Assembly:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon, set aside.
- Though you can roll out the dough on a well-floured surface, I find it easiest to roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper. Flour either the surface or baking paper, roll out the dough into a very thin rectangle, keep on peeling away the paper, and flouring if needed to ensure that the dough isn’t stuck to the paper.
- Arrange 1 dough rectangle on the work surface with the long side nearest you. Spread 1/4 cup preserves (or a ¼ cup nutella) evenly over dough with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar, then sprinkle with chopped nuts and either raisins or mini chocolate chips.
- Using parchment as an aid, roll up dough tightly into a log. Wrap the baking paper around the log and refrigerate for 30 minutes, repeat with remaining dough.
- Heat oven to 160°C (325°F). Line the bottom two baking sheets with baking paper and set aside.
- Brush logs with milk(or water) and sprinkles each with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar (or chocolate sprinkles for Nutella rolls). With a large sharp knife, cut the logs into 2cm (3/4-inch) pieces. Place the cookies on the baking tray 2 inches apart, some of them will fall over, that is ok.
- Bake until golden and baked through to the center, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Rugelach will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days and in the freezer for up to a month.
