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A plate full of chocolate rugelach cookies.
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Chocolate Rugelach Cookies

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Jewish
Keyword: chocolate rugelach
Servings: 32 cookies
Calories: 106.2kcal
Author: Susan Pridmore

Ingredients

Rugelach Dough

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, very cold cut into around 8 pieces
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold cut into 8 pats
  • 9 ounces all-purpose flour (2 cups)
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Chocolate Filling

  • ¼ cup dried currants
  • 2 tablespoons rum
  • cup apricot jam warmed and strained
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips chopped
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Glaze

Instructions

Rugelach Dough

  • Combine all the ingredients for the dough in the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a blade.
    Pulse 15-20 times or until the dough forms large curds. Be careful not to process it so long that it forms one big ball on the blade!
  • Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half, and form gently into 2 disks. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day.

Chocolate Filling

  • Soak the currants in the rum until soft and plump, about 20 minutes.
  • Warm up the apricot jam in a small pot over medium low heat, or in the microwave oven just enough that the jam liquifies. Strain.
  • Chop the mini chocolate chips into small pieces, no more than ¼ inch in size. Do this with a sharp chef's knife, or pulse in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade.
    Mix with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Shape the Cookies

  • Remove the first disk of dough from the refrigerator. Lightly flour a work surface and begin to roll out the dough to a circle that's 11 - 12 inches in diameter. It’s important to have as evenly round a circle as possible.
    Pro-tip: If the edges crack, let the dough sit on the work surface for 5 minutes to allow it to warm up a bit. Pinch the cracked edges back to together, and continue to roll the disk out.
  • Brush half of the strained apricot jam onto the dough circle; and sprinkle half of the chocolate and brown sugar mixture over the jam. Finish by sprinkling half of the currants on top.
  • Use a pizza wheel or a sharp chef's knife to cut the dough into 16 equal, triangular slices.
    The best way to do this is to slice the dough circle in half, and then into quarters. Moving the pizza wheel or knife from one side of the circle to the opposite side, slice those quarters in half again to form 8 triangles, and one last time to form 16 triangles.
  • Carefully slide one of the triangles away from the dough circle, and roll it up into a crescent shape, starting with the wide base of the triangle, and ending with the pointed end.
    The shaped cookie should look like a small, fat croissant.
    Arrange on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, with the triangle point tucked under each cookie. Slide into the freezer.
  • Wipe any loose filling from the work space, and repeat with the other half of the dough.
  • Freeze the crescent cookies for at least 1 ½ - 2 hours, until completely solid.

Bake

  • Preheat the oven to 350° F.
  • Whisk together the glaze by beating the egg and cream together until smooth.
    Remove the cookies from the freezer, and brush the glaze onto the tops of each cookie as evenly as possible.
    Lightly sprinkle the turbinado (coarse) sugar over the tops of the cookies and immediately slide them in the oven.
    Bake for 30 minutes, or until puffed and a golden brown.
    Transfer the baked rugelach to a cooling rack, and cool for at least 15 minutes before eating.

Nutrition

Calories: 106.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 13.4g | Protein: 1.5g | Fat: 5.1g | Saturated Fat: 3.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1.2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 17.9mg | Sodium: 55mg | Potassium: 30.5mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 5.9g | Vitamin A: 167.7IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 12.9mg | Iron: 0.5mg