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Home ·  Recipes

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach

Author: Maryanne CabreraPublished: Sep 29, 2014Updated: Jul 26, 2023
View Recipe6 Reviews
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Chocolate hazelnut rugelach are made with a cream cheese based dough and filled with cinnamon, chocolate, and hazelnuts. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach | the little epicurean

Rugelach is a bite-size Jewish pastry made with a rich cream cheese dough.

Fillings can vary from: jams, nuts, chocolate, dried fruit, or spices.

This version is filled with chocolate chips, ground cinnamon, and roughly chopped toasted hazelnuts.

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach | the little epicurean

Chocolate Rugelach

Rugelach originated in the Jewish communities of Poland. This cookie come to have many names in the United States including cream cheese cookie, butter horn, or nut horn.

It is either rolled into crescents or coins.

There are many, many variations of this popular pastry.

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach

Cream Cheese Pastry Dough

The majority of rugelach recipes calls for a one to one ratio of butter and cream cheese . This combination is responsible for the pastry’s flakiness and tangy flavor.

However, you will find that there are numerous varieties to this pastry dough. Some recipe include sour cream, light cream cheese, or mascarpone cheese. I prefer to stick with the classic one to one ratio.

The baked cream cheese dough is flakey similar to a palmier (also known as elephant ears).

Mixing the dough is super easy. Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Then, add in salt and flour.

Divide the dough into four equal parts and store in the fridge for an hour (or overnight) to rest and firm up.

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach

How to assemble rugelach

I find the easiest way to make rugelach is by rolling the dough into a circle and then slicing it like a pizza to get little wedges.  

  1. Work with one portion of chilled dough at a time. Roll to a circle with a thickness of about 1/4-inch.
  2. Brush entire surface with melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips, and hazelnuts all over.
  3. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 equal wedges (triangles).
  4. Beginning at the wide outside edge, roll dough inward.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach | the little epicurean

Because I’m big on crunch, I sprinkled the outside of the rugelach with turbinado sugar.

With the melted chocolate chips, toasted halzenuts, and flaky dough, this chocolate hazelnut rugelach is one cookie I can’t ever tire of!

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach | the little epicurean

Chocolate Hazelnut Rugleach

These chocolate hazelnut rugelach are made with a cream cheese based dough and filled with cinnamon, chocolate, and hazelnuts.
Yield: makes about 4 dozen
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Dough Chill Time: 1 hour hour
Total Time: 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes
Servings: 4 dozen pieces
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Ingredients

Dough:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 8 oz brick style cream cheese, room temp
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cup all-purpose flour

Filling:

  • ¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 ¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, chopped
  • ¾ cup mini chocolate chips or chopped chocolate of choice

Topping:

  • 3 Tablespoon turbinado sugar or coarse sugar of choice
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 large egg white
  • 2 teaspoon water

Instructions
 

Dough:

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add salt and flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are fully incorporated. Scrape down bowl as needed during mixing.
  • Transfer dough to a clean working surface.  Divide into 4 equal parts.  Pat into a flat disk about 1/2 inch in thickness.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge and allow to chill for at least 1 hour until firm (or overnight).

Filling:

  • In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.
  • Place cooled, melted butter in a separate small bowl. Keep chopped hazelnut and mini chocolate chips in separate bowls as well.

Assembly:

  • Preheat oven to 350° F.  Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Work with one chilled dough disk at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to circle with a thickness of about ¼ inch. Brush melted butter over the entire piece of dough.  Sprinkle about 1/4 of the sugar mixture over dough.  Sprinkle 1/4 of chopped hazelnuts and chocolate chips. Press hazelnuts and chocolate chips into the dough.
  • Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 equal wedges (triangles). Beginning with the wide outside edge, roll dough.  Place cookies with the small tucked end underneath.  Space cookies about 1 ½-inches apart.
  • Repeat with remaining 3 disks of dough.
  • Topping: Whisk together egg white and water.  Lightly brush rolled cookies tops with egg wash. Sprinkle with cinnamon-turbinado mixture.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown.  Let cool in pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool to room temperature

Notes

  • Do not overfill the rugelach. The filling will ooze out creating a mess causing the rugelach to stick to the parchment paper. 
  • Baked rugelach will keep stored in a container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
  • If dough gets too sticky, return dough to fridge and allow to cool. 
Author: Maryanne Cabrera
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate hazelnut, chocolate rugelach
Did you make this recipe?Show us on Instagram! Tag @littleepicurean and hashtag #littleepicurean.

More Rugelach Recipes

  • Rasberry Rugelach
  • Guava Rugelach
  • Strawberry Sour Cream Rugelach
Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach | the little epicurean
6 Reviews
Filed in:
CookiesChocolate · Christmas · Fall + Winter · Nuts · Sweet · Thanksgiving

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Reader Questions and Reviews

  1. Jen @ Baked by an Introvert says:
    September 29, 2014

    I’ve never had this before nor heard of it. It seems like I am completely missing out on a tasty treat. Must make this soon!

    Reply
    • Maryanne Cabrera says:
      October 1, 2014

      It’s really fun to make! You can make them big or bite sized :)

  2. Liz @ Floating Kitchen says:
    September 29, 2014

    These flavors sound delicious. Love the “pizza” photo. It makes so much sense to do it that way. Love it!

    Reply
    • Maryanne Cabrera says:
      October 1, 2014

      Thanks! The “pizza” method saves a lot of time :)

  3. Carmen says:
    September 30, 2014

    Se ve delicioso, otra preparacion de las q nos tiene acostumbrados The Little Epicurean, deliciosas, como siempre, se las estoy preparando para el fin de semana para la familia. la receta es excelente!!!!!

    Reply
    • Maryanne Cabrera says:
      October 1, 2014

      Thanks Carmen!

Maryanne Cabrera

Meet the Author

Maryanne Cabrera is a classically trained pastry chef, baker, cake maker, and cocktail shaker.
Read more about me

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