Rugelach with Chocolate-Walnut Filling
By America's Test KitchenPublished on August 22, 2007
Time
2 hours, plus 30 minutes freezing and 20 minutes cooling
Yield
Makes 32 cookies
Ingredients
Cream Cheese and Sour Cream Dough
2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar ¼ teaspoon table salt ½ pound (227 grams) unsalted butter (2 sticks), chilled and cut into ¼-inch pieces8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, chilled and cut into ½-inch chunks2 tablespoons sour creamFilling
1 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 cup semisweet chocolate minichips 2 ¼ cups walnuts, chopped fine (about 2 cups)Egg Yolk -and- Milk Glaze
2 large egg yolks 2 tablespoons milkBefore You Begin
If the dough gathers into a cohesive mass around the blade in the food processor workbowl, you have overprocessed it. Make sure to stop processing at the point where the mixture is separate and pebbly. If at any point during the cutting and rolling of the crescents the sheet of dough softens and becomes impossible to roll, slide it onto a baking pan and freeze it until it is firm enough to handle. Once the crescents are baking in the oven, start checking them for doneness at eighteen or nineteen minutes, especially those on the top-level rack. Feel free to substitute an equal quantity of chopped pitted prunes, chopped dried apricots, dried currants, dried cherries, or dried cranberries for the raisins in the filling. Chocolate-and-walnut rugelach are excellent without preserves altogether or with seedless raspberry preserves in place of the apricot.
Instructions
- Pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine in food processor fitted with steel blade. Add butter and cream cheese pieces and sour cream; pulse until dough comes together in small, uneven pebbles the size of cottage cheese curds, about sixteen 1-second pulses. Turn mixture onto work surface, press into 9-inch-by-6-inch log, divide log into four equal portions, (see illustration 1) and press each into 4 1/2-by-3/4-inch disk. Place each disk between two sheets plastic wrap; roll out to form 8 1/2-inch circle (illustration 2). Stack dough circles on plate; freeze 30 minutes (or up to 1 month if stored in zipper-lock freezer bag).
- Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside with other filling ingredients. Working with one dough round, remove from freezer and spread 1/4 cup mini chips, 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar, and 1/2 cup walnuts, in that order, over dough; pat down gently with fingers (illustration 3). Cut dough round into eight wedges. Roll each wedge into crescent shape and place at 2-inch intervals on parchment paper-lined heavy rimmed baking pans (illustration 4). Freeze crescents at least 15 minutes. (Frozen crescents, if well-wrapped, can be frozen in a zipper-lock bag up to 6 weeks.) Repeat with remaining dough rounds.
- Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg yolks and milk in small bowl until smooth. Brush top and sides of frozen crescents with egg-milk mixture. Bake crescents, turning baking pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time, until pale gold and slightly puffy, 21 to 23 minutes. Immediately sprinkle each cookie with scant teaspoon cinnamon sugar; carefully transfer hot, fragile cookies to cooling rack using thin-bladed spatula. (Can be stored in an airtight container up to 4 days.)
for the dough
for the filling
for the glaze
Time
2 hours, plus 30 minutes freezing and 20 minutes coolingYield
Makes 32 cookiesIngredients
Cream Cheese and Sour Cream Dough
Filling
Egg Yolk -and- Milk Glaze
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Cream Cheese and Sour Cream Dough
Filling
Egg Yolk -and- Milk Glaze
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Cream Cheese and Sour Cream Dough
Filling
Egg Yolk -and- Milk Glaze
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
On the way to a rugelach recipe that gave us tender cookies with a bounteous filling, we discovered that freezing the circles of rolled-out dough before applying the filling gave our baked cookies the flakiest, most delicate texture. For the best filling for our rugelach recipe, we processed the preserves briefly in the food processor to break up larger pieces of fruit, which tend to spill out during baking. We chopped the nuts very fine and added them to the filling last, so they would block seepage.
Before You Begin
If the dough gathers into a cohesive mass around the blade in the food processor workbowl, you have overprocessed it. Make sure to stop processing at the point where the mixture is separate and pebbly. If at any point during the cutting and rolling of the crescents the sheet of dough softens and becomes impossible to roll, slide it onto a baking pan and freeze it until it is firm enough to handle. Once the crescents are baking in the oven, start checking them for doneness at eighteen or nineteen minutes, especially those on the top-level rack. Feel free to substitute an equal quantity of chopped pitted prunes, chopped dried apricots, dried currants, dried cherries, or dried cranberries for the raisins in the filling. Chocolate-and-walnut rugelach are excellent without preserves altogether or with seedless raspberry preserves in place of the apricot.
Instructions
- Pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine in food processor fitted with steel blade. Add butter and cream cheese pieces and sour cream; pulse until dough comes together in small, uneven pebbles the size of cottage cheese curds, about sixteen 1-second pulses. Turn mixture onto work surface, press into 9-inch-by-6-inch log, divide log into four equal portions, (see illustration 1) and press each into 4 1/2-by-3/4-inch disk. Place each disk between two sheets plastic wrap; roll out to form 8 1/2-inch circle (illustration 2). Stack dough circles on plate; freeze 30 minutes (or up to 1 month if stored in zipper-lock freezer bag).
- Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside with other filling ingredients. Working with one dough round, remove from freezer and spread 1/4 cup mini chips, 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar, and 1/2 cup walnuts, in that order, over dough; pat down gently with fingers (illustration 3). Cut dough round into eight wedges. Roll each wedge into crescent shape and place at 2-inch intervals on parchment paper-lined heavy rimmed baking pans (illustration 4). Freeze crescents at least 15 minutes. (Frozen crescents, if well-wrapped, can be frozen in a zipper-lock bag up to 6 weeks.) Repeat with remaining dough rounds.
- Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg yolks and milk in small bowl until smooth. Brush top and sides of frozen crescents with egg-milk mixture. Bake crescents, turning baking pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time, until pale gold and slightly puffy, 21 to 23 minutes. Immediately sprinkle each cookie with scant teaspoon cinnamon sugar; carefully transfer hot, fragile cookies to cooling rack using thin-bladed spatula. (Can be stored in an airtight container up to 4 days.)
for the dough
for the filling
for the glaze
Gift This Recipe
Enjoyed this dish? Let others know by sharing it as a gift recipe.
Appears In
Key Equipment
Keep Exploring
0 Comments