A month or two ago at Costco, Alex pointed out a case of rugelach and mentioned that, even though he didn’t know what they were called, he was a fan. I promised to make them eventually, and this weekend’s DCFixed cookout seemed like as good a time as any.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 7 ounces (14 tablespoons) butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup grated bittersweet chocolate
• butter, melted

Topping:

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl.

Add the sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the flour and mix until just combined.

Chill in the fridge for at least an hour, up to over night. Before removing the dough from the fridge, prepare the filling. If you can find bars or chunks of bittersweet chocolate, you can grate them on a cheese grater. Otherwise, freeze bittersweet chocolate chips for at least an hour, then place in a food processor and chop to small bits. Unfortunately, I learned rather too late that I’ve apparently killed our mini food processor, so I had to rub handfuls of chocolate chips against a cheese grater, which was…not ideal.

Combine the cocoa, cinnamon, and sugar with the chocolate and set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into four balls. It was not at all the texture I was expecting, much butterier than most doughs, but it baked into a nice dough.

Put three of the balls back in the fridge and pat the fourth into a rough disk. Roll the disk into a 1/8″ thick circle on a floured surface. Make sure the bottom of the disk is well floured so you’ll be able to lift it easily from your counter a few steps on. Melt butter (start with 2 tablespoons, melt more if you need it) and brush it over the surface of the dough.

Sprinkle a quarter of the filling over the disk. Cut the disk into wedges. The outside edge should be 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide.

Starting at the wide edge, roll the dough towards the point. Place each, point-down, on parchment lined baking sheets.

The last few were rolled up in a haze of filling, and got a bit dirty looking.

Repeat with the remaining three dough-balls.

Beat the egg briefly with a fork. Brush the egg over each pastry, then sprinkle with sugar. I somehow forgot this step until I was rotating the pans during baking, but I did it then and it came out fine.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

After a bit of confusion (“Want a rugelach?” “Isn’t arugula a vegetable??”), these were quite popular.

I will probably try these again with various fillings (although what can top chocolate?), since I really enjoyed them.

Chocolate Rugelach

From About.com.

Dough:

• 7 ounces (14 tablespoons) butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup grated bittersweet chocolate
• butter, melted

Topping:

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl, blend the butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add flour and mix until just combined. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a work surface.

Chop or grate the bittersweet chocolate and stir together with the remaining filling ingredients. Set aside.

Divide the dough into four balls and return three to the fridge. Pat the fourth ball into a rough disk, then roll to a 1/8″ thick circle on the floured surface.

Melt butter and brush over the circle. Sprinkle with one quarter of the filling, then cut into wedges 1″-1.5″ wide at the base. Roll each wedge from the wide end to the point. Place on parchment-lined sheets, point-down.

Repeat with remaining three dough balls.

Whisk egg and brush over rugelach. Sprinkle sugar on top. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.