Cream cheese cookies stuffed with cheesecake. Need I say more? Oh yeah, there’s chocolate too in these Chocolate Cheesecake Rugelach.
It would be the understatement of the year- nay! – decade to say food is an essential part of Jewish holidays. Rosh Hashanah has apples and honey, Hanukkah has latkes, Passover has matzah ball soup (and my killer braised brisket) and Shavuot, which starts today, has dairy.
Why dairy? Great question! One popular reason is in acknowledgment of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai on this day. The chosen people suddenly had commandments to follow, including keeping kosher. But they were not prepared with proper tools to prepare meat. Instead, they chose to eat a dairy meal. Now I doubt that Moses had the popular Shavuot dishes of cheesecake, blintzes or kugel. And he definitely didn’t take the best cookie ever, rugleach, and make a cheesecake version. But I did. Rugelach has a cream cheese filled dough, already making it Shavuot-appropriate. So I did the natural thing and stuffed it with more cream cheese. Eating these are basically a commandment.
Chocolate Cheesecake Rugelach
Ingredients
- 2 sticks cold unsalted butter cut into chunks
- 2 8- ounce packages of cream cheese
- 1/2 cup of sugar plus more for sprinkling
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg whisked
Instructions
- With a stand or hand mixer with beater attachment, cream together butter, 1 package cream cheese and sugar just until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Then add in sour cream, vanilla and salt and combine. Lastly, add in flour and cocoa powder and mix just until combined.
- Lightly flour a clean surface and dump dough onto the surface. Divide the dough into four equal sized balls (I use a scale) and flatten each into a disk. Dough should be a little sticky. Wrap each disk in saran wrap and chill for two hours or overnight. It also freezes well for up to 2 months.
- Divide the dough into four balls. Wrap in saran wrap and chill for two hours or overnight.
- When ready to bake, pre heat oven to 350 F.
- Combine 1 package room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar.
- Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface into a 9-inch diameter circle about 1/8 inch thick , keeping the other balls in the fridge until you are ready for them. Make sure to use enough flour to prevent sticking.
- Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on the circle, sprinkle evenly with sugar.
- Cut the circle into 12 triangles. Roll up each triangle from the wide end, and secure the tip into the cookie so you have a little spiral. Repeat with other balls. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and refrigerate 30 minutes to prevent spreading. Wash rugelach with egg wash, sprinkle with more sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Cool on a cooling rack.
I have got to find a way to make a gluten free version of this. It sounds incredible. We haven’t had rugelach in years. My husband’s grandmother used to make it. Thank you for sharing such a yummy recipe!