Rugelach: Sugar Cookie Dough with a Strawberry, Almond, & Chocolate Filing
This recipe is a mix of my favorite sugar cookie dough that has cream cheese and almond flavoring and the traditional Jewish rugelach with yogurt instead of sour cream. The cookie filling is made with strawberry jam, toasted almonds, almond extract, white chocolate, and powdered sugar. This is a great hand-held cookie that looks like a French croissant but tastes like a fruit pie.
Servings: 40 cookies
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 6 oz (1½ sticks or 12 tbsp) butter softened
- 8 oz (1 pkg) cream cheese softened
- 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 4 oz (½ cup) full-fat plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 270 g (2¼ cups) all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp (1.5 g) salt
Filling
- 1 cup strawberry preserves (jam, jelly, or spread) cherry or blueberry
- ½ cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 cup slivered almonds toasted is optional
- 1 cup (6 oz / 150 g) white chocolate chips or chopped bar
Egg Wash Topping
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp water
- 2-3 tbsp coarse sugar cane sugar
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- In a stand mixer (or large bowl), cream together butter and cream cheese until light, creamy, and smooth. Mix in sugar until well combined. Add yogurt and extracts. Mix again until smooth and well combined.
- In a medium bowl, sift flour and salt. Give it quick stir. With the machine on low, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix just until combined being careful not to overmix.TIP: If using a bowl and spoon, add half of the flour and stir. Then, add the remaining flour and stir.
- On a lightly floured work surface mixed with a little granulated sugar, scoop out the dough and shape it into a ball. Divide the dough into fourths (eyeball or weigh). Flatten each dough piece into a disk and wrap each in a sheet of plastic wrap. Refrigerate each disk for a minimum of 1 hour up to 2 days. For longer than an hour in the fridge, you may need to let the dough warm up slightly on the counter for about 30 minutes to make it easier to roll.TIP: If weighing each dough piece, each should weight ~198 grams.
Make the Filling & Topping:
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (177°C). Add the slivered almonds to a dry baking sheet and bake them for 3-5 minutes until toasted. Careful not to burn them. Check them frequently. Set aside.TIPS: If using a larger cut nut, you'll need to bake them longer. Toasting the nuts is optional, but it brings out the oils and flavors in the nuts enhancing the flavor of the filling.
- To a food processor, add preserves, sugar, almond extract, chocolate, and toasted almonds. Blend to a chunky, thick paste. Set aside.TIP: Powdered sugar along with creating a paste from all the ingredients keeps the preserves from thinning out causing it to ooze out of the cookie as it bakes.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg and water until well combined. Set aside.
Roll, Shape, & Fill the Dough:
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190°C). Prepare a baking sheet (or two) by lining it with parchment paper.
- Remove 1 dough disk from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin and roll it out into an ⅛-inch thick circle, adding flour and sugar to the surface as needed to keep the dough from sticking.TIP: Mixing sugar and flour adds sweetness to the cookie exterior and adds a little height keeping the dough from sticking to the surface.
- Use a knife to cut a 10-inch circle out of the center of the dough. You can use a round cake pan, bottom of a springform pan, or parchment paper template of a 10-inch circle. TIP: Save any extra dough from each circle to combine and make more cookies at the end once all of the dough disks have been used.
- Use a spoon or spatula to spread a thin layer of filling evenly over the dough (1/4 cup) leaving a 1-inch border from the edge. You can press the filling into the dough to keep it in place, if needed.
- Use a knife to cut out 8 pizza or pie wedges. First, cut the circle in half. Cut each half in half to equal fourths. Cut each fourth in half to get 8 total equal wedges or triangles.TIP: Having a well-floured surface makes it easy to roll up the cookies.
- Begin at the wide end of each wedge, roll it up tightly towards the center. Each cookie roll should resemble a French croissant roll.
- Place each cookie roll on the prepared baking pan leaving about an inch space between each cookie allowing for a small rise and expansion.
- Brush egg wash over each cookie roll and sprinkle with granulated sugar.TIP: Coarse sugar like cane sugar is preferred for the topping as it adds sparkle and crunch to the exterior of the cookie.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. While one batch of cookies bakes, repeat the previous steps with the remaining dough disks and filling.
- Once baked, place the cookies on a wire rack to cool and bake the next batch of cookies or store remaining cookie dough and filling in the fridge to bake tomorrow. Eat and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Storing:
Eat the cookies warm, fresh out of the oven, or store in an airtight container for several days. You can freeze them in a freezer bag or airtight container for several months.
Variations:
Try cherry preserves instead of strawberry preserves with dark chocolate instead of white chocolate and vanilla extract instead of almond extract.