Chocolate Cherry Rugelach (2024)

January 29, 2015 by Laura 12 Comments

Rugelach (especially these chocolate cherry rugelach) are the perfect way to say “I love you.” Whether the gift is motivated by romance,friendship, the desire to providesolace, rugelach provide fit the bill. Makingthese tiny treasures, hand-rolled and filled with sweets, is likeoffering someone a piece of yourheart.

Big or small, chock full of tidbits or simply rolled with a slick of jam, they’re a joy to make and give, plus they are pretty wonderful to eat.

These are chocolate and cherry filled because it’s close to Valentine’s Day and I love that combination.I’ve posted about rugelach before, as part of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group. That time the filling wasapricot-based filling and thedoughwas sweeter and smoother than this one. There are endless variations on filling and even recipes that use yeast in the dough. I love homemade rugelach so much I’m tempted to try at least a few more versions soon.

No matter which recipe you use, these3 handy rugelach-makingtips should help:

1. The dough needs time to rest/chill, as do the formedrugelach before baking, so count onat least 3-4 hours total resting time, if not more.
2. Use a silicone mat or waxed paper lightly floured when rolling out the dough. The crescents come off the mat or paper more easily than the counter and if the dough gets too soft after rolling it into the large, thin circle, you can lift the mat or paper torefrigerate the dough for a few minutes,firming it up before cutting and rolling the individual rugelach.
3. The smaller the pieces of filling, the easier it is to roll the individual slices of dough. Concentrating the filling toward the outer part of the circle also helps.

Servings – 32 pieces Cost – $5

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (½ package) cream cheese, chilled and cut into 4-6 pieces
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, chilled but into 6-8 pieces

Filling &Wash for TopsBefore Baking

• ¼ cup red jam, preferably cherry
• ¼ cup (about 1.5 ounces) finely diced frozen or fresh cherries
• ¼ cup (about 1.5 ounces) finely chopped dark or semi-sweet chocolate (or mini-morsels)
• ¼ cup (about 1.5 ounces) chopped slivered or sliced almonds
• 1- 2 tablespoons sugar (optional, not pictured)
• 1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water (not pictured)
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar or cinnamon and sugar (not pictured)

Equipment

• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Bowl and 2 knives or pastry cutter or food processor
• Plastic wrap for refrigerating dough
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Pastry brush or spoon
• Small bowl or ramekin
• Small pot (if heating jam on stovetop)
• Pizza cutter (optional)
• Silicone mat or waxed paper
• Parchment or silicone-lined cookie sheets
• Metal spatula
• Wire rack

Preparation

• Mix the flour and salt. Add the chunks of chilled butter and cream cheese. Pulse those ingredientsin the food processor until theyformsoft, cheese curd-like balls. Don’t overmix to the point where the dough sticks all together. (Mixing by hand with a pastry cutter or 2 knives works, it just takes longer.)Dump the dough “curds” onto the baking mat or waxed paper and divide them in half. Form each into a ball; you should still see bits of unmixed butter and cream cheese laced through the dough. It’s fine if thedough balls arecrumbly. Wrap them in plastic wrap, form each into a 4-6inch disc, and refrigerate them at least 3 hours –longer, even overnight, is better.

• On alightly floured mat or waxed paper, roll one chilled discinto a thin circle about 10-12 inches in diameter. (Check out the fabulousmarble rolling pin my sister-in-law gave me last week!)If the dough is too crumbly, you can knead it for a minute or two, as long as you don’t heat it up.The wider you roll out the circle, the thinner the dough (which makes it a bit more difficult to roll), but also the more elegant the crescents. Although perfect edges are lovely, they aren’t essential as the edge doesn’tshow once the chocolate cherry rugelach are rolled.

• After heating the jam slightly,brush or spread it onto the circle with the back of a spoon. (I microwavedthe jamfor 30-45 seconds, which loosened it enough to easily brush it over the dough.) Sprinkle the chopped/diced toppings and add optional sugar if you want it to sweeten it a little. (My frozen cherries were rather tart and I used dark chocolate. If you use sweeter cherries and/or semi sweet chocolate, you may find the toppings adequately sweet without extra sugar.) At the end, it looks like a sweet pizza. If you’re concerned about ease of cutting and rolling the slices, useless topping.

• Using apizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the circle into quarters andeach quarter into quarters again, so you end up with16 thin slices of “pie.” Roll up one slicebeginning at the wide end and working toward the center of the circle. Remove that rugelach and repeat the process with each slice. There is no need to be concerned if the chocolate cherry rugelach are slightly rough-looking or iffilling oozes out, those features are part of their charm.

• Place the rugelachon asilicone mat or parchment-lined panswith their points on the bottom to seal themso theydon’t unravel. Refrigerate or freeze the rugelachfor at least an hour. You can transfer frozen rugelach to a tightly closed freezer bag and keep them frozen for several months.
• Repeat the process with the second disc of dough.
• To bake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Brush therugelach with the egg mixture and sprinkle themwith sugar or cinnamon and sugar. I like to put a second pan underneath each pan to prevent the rugelach bottoms from burning. Bake for approximately 22-28 minutes. (You can bakethemdirectly from the freezer;it justtakes a few minutes longer than if they had been refrigerated.)If you are baking two pans at the same time,rotate themmidway duringbaking, from top to bottom and turn them each around, in order to promote even baking of all the individual rugelach. They are done when slightly puffy and golden brown.Remove to a wire rackfor cooling.