I decided to get a little crazy with my last holiday cookie.  Rugelach is a traditional Jewish dessert, perfect for Channukah.  However, I’m pretty sure that these would be welcome on any Christmas table as well.

So instead of making a traditional version of rugelach, I took the basic cream cheese dough and added a few flavor combinations that I love right now.

Chocolate and Cinnamon: just enough sweetness from the cinnamon sugar mixture

Peanut Butter and Jelly: Do I even need to say more?

And Milk Chocolate and Toffee:  Um, yes I did.

It might be a little bit of production to make a cookie where you have to chill the dough, roll it out, fill it and then bake, but it is well worth it!

And three different flavors isn’t really a big deal since you separate the dough into three sections anyway.  Holiday baking project with the kids or a friend? I think so!

Rugelach, Three Ways
Makes ~45 cookies

Ingredients:
Dough
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, separated
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Fillings:
Cinnamon Chocolate Rugelach
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Peanut Butter and Jelly Rugelach
1/2 cup jelly (any flavor, I used a mixed berry)
2/3 cup peanut butter chips lightly chopped
Milk Chocolate Toffee Rugelach
1 cup milk chocolate toffee bits
Optional: additional milk chocolate for melting

Directions:
Prepare dough
Beat together butter and cream cheese on high speed until light and creamy
Stir in 2 1/4 cups flour just until combined
Separate dough into thirds and mold into separate disks; wrap each disk tightly with saran wrap
Chill dough in refrigerator at least two hours or until dough is firm (can chill up to several days)
When dough is chilled, put together rugelach, one disk and filling at a time
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a slipat and set aside
Mix remaining 1/2 cup flour and confectioners sugar
Spoon some of flour mixture over counter
Roll out dough into a long rectangle using additional flour mixture as needed (height of the rectangle should be ~4 inches) so that dough is about 1/8 of an inch thick
To make cinnamon chocolate rugelach, combine cinnamon sugar mixture; pour enough over dough to create a thin layer of cinnamon sugar going all the way out to the edges
Pour chocolate chips over cinnamon sugar
Use a sharp knife (a pizza knife works well), to cut long thin triangles out of the rectangle; the length of the triangles should be dictated by the height of the rectangle
Now you can roll your rugelach; take the shortest edge of the triangle and roll it tightly towards the other end until the dough has formed a crescent
Repeat process with the remaining cinnamon and chocolate covered dough
Place unbaked rugelach onto prepared baking sheet 1/2 – 1 inch apart from one another
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges have turned golden brown
Repeat the process for Peanut Butter and Jelly Rugelach
Once dough is rolled into a thin rectangle, spread with a thin layer of jelly
Pour chopped peanut butter chips over jelly
Slice dough, roll and bake as instructed above
Repeat the process with remaining dough for Milk Chocolate and Toffee Rugelach
Once dough is rolled into a thin rectangle, spread with a layer of milk chocolate and tofee pieces
Slice dough, roll and bake as instructed above
Once Milk Chocolate and Toffee Rugelach are done, drizzle with melted milk chocolate

Which rugelach flavor would you like best?

[pinit]