This take on rugelach is super low-maintenance and comes together in under 45 minutes of hands-on time.
Flaky, buttery, and almost bursting open with dark chocolate, these untraditional rugelach are a perfect Christmas cookie-pastry that you can easily make with help or without. The addition of high-quality sea salt takes these to the next level!
Ah, the food of my people. Rugelach – pronounced ru-gu-la – is a traditional Jewish-filled cookie/pastry that tastes like you spent hours slaving away over their every butter-filled crevice.
Truthfully, it’s like someone condensed the flavor of a chocolate croissant – a notoriously day-long affair – into this couple-bite-size pastry that only takes a Sunday morning to come together. Not so traditional in this recipe, though, is the addition of course sea salt, and the shape, which is an introduction to a lengthy (loud) conversation (argument) that we can have at a later date and time.
Traditional rugelach come in all shapes and sizes, but most commonly, they are on the smaller side, and filled with either a preserve filling or a cinnamon/nut filling. My grandma used to make them with a plum preserve called powidl, but I much prefer a good high-quality chocolate filling for these dark chocolate rugelach.
Until I get her recipe, I adapted this one from Fine Cooking, but made a few tweaks that I think make for the ultimate rugelach. Most importantly, I wanted to make this as low-maintenance as possible.
We begin with the dough and the filling.
A block of cream cheese, a stick of butter, a bit of powdered sugar, mix. Add in some flour and salt, and ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our destination. How easy is that! All you have left to do is to shape it into a big mound and cut into four equal pieces. Shape them into square disks and refrigerate. Done!
The filling is even easier. I put a heatproof bowl with chocolate, butter, powdered sugar and salt nestled on top of a small saucepan of simmering water, and stirred every so often. You could just as easily do this in the microwave. After the filling ingredients are all equally incorporated, let the mixture cool to room temperature on the counter (while your dough refrigerates).
Next, your one-way ticket to rugelach city!
On a lightly floured counter, you’re gonna roll out your refrigerated dough. Ideally, give it 5-10 minutes out of the fridge to warm it up a bit – it’ll be easier to roll out. Using a rolling pin, roll out your disk of dough until it’s around 8 or 9 inches on each side (aim for 9). I use my hands to keep it in a square-ish shape, but it’s not a big deal if it ends up a little more circular. The rolled-out dough should be about the thickness of two quarters stacked together.
With a knife, spoon, or ideally a mini offset spatula, spread 1/4 of the chocolate filling onto the dough, leaving about a 1/2 inch border. Start rolling up your rugelach! From left to right, try to keep it rather tight, and make sure that you roll so that the end of the dough ends up on the bottom of the log – this will “close the seam” so your rugelach won’t unroll or lose their signature shape. This has happened to me more than once. It is very sad.
Once you’ve got a beautiful rugelach log, I usually put gentle pressure onto the log from the top. This gives the rugelach more of an oval-ish, flat-ish shape. Hope you’re following!
Using a bench scraper, trim the rough edges off the top and bottom of the log. I usually also trim the right side of the square of dough (see 3rd photo, although I did not include this in the picture) so that the rugelach end up with a clean bottom seam. Again with your bench scraper, cut the log into six equal pieces. You’re almost there!
Rugelach city, population you!
Beat an egg with some milk or water, and brush onto the rugelach. Flaky salt is not optional. Pop these ladies in the oven at 375, and take them out after around 18-20 minutes, turning them midway. Some folks like a little dusty-dust of powdered sugar, but truth be told, it’s not for me. I’m a simple gal!
Congratulations! Bada-bing, bada-boom! It’s all happening for you! And for me! For us! Dark chocolate rugelach have never been easier.