2cupsall-purpose flourplus more for rolling out dough
2sticks cold unsalted butter1 cup, cut into chunks (cold ingredients lead to a flaky dough!)
6ozcold cream cheesecut into chunks
⅓cupsour cream
2teaspoonsvanilla
For filling:
2cupsblanched almonds
1/2cupcandied ginger
1/4cupsugarplus more for sprinkling
1/4cuphoney
2teaspoonscardamom
1/2stick1/4 cup melted butter
2egg yolks with 1 teaspoon of water for egg wash
Instructions
Place flour, sugar, cardamom salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Then add cold butter, cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla in a food processor and pulse just until combined. You should have a crumbly dough. Do not overmix.
(If you don't have a food processor, let butter and cream cheese come to room temperature. With a stand or hand mixer with beater attachment or a whisk, cream together butter, 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 cardamom and mix with a spoon or your hands just until combined. This method will lead to a chewier rugelach vs. the flakier cookie with cold ingredients.)
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 will be slightly sticky. Wrap each disk in saran wrap and chill for two hours or overnight. It also freezes well for up to 2 months.
When ready to bake, pre heat the oven to 350 F.
To make filling, pulse almonds and candied ginger in a food processor until broken down into tiny chunks but be careful not to form a paste. Then combine with sugar, honey, cardamom and melted butter.
In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1 tablespoon water.
Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface into a 9-10 inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick, keeping the other balls in the fridge until you are ready for them. You can use a pie pan to make an even circle. Make sure to use enough flour to prevent sticking on both sides to prevent sticking, but not so much that the dough gets dry.
Sprinkle about 1/4 of the filling ingredients evenly onto the circle and gently press into dough.
Cut the circle into 12 triangles using a pizza cutter or sharp knife. The easiest way to do this is cut the dough into quarters, and then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. Roll up each triangle from the wide end, and secure the tip into the cookie so you have a little spiral. Place cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, with the dough point down, and freeze for 30 minutes to prevent spreading. Then wash with egg wash, sprinkle with more sugar.
Then bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then finish cooling on cooling racks. EAT!
Notes
You will also need to chill the dough 2 hours - overnight.