Chocolate hazelnut rugelach are made with a cream cheese based dough and filled with cinnamon, chocolate, and hazelnuts.
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.
Table of Contents
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.
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.
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.
- Work with one portion of chilled dough at a time. Roll to a circle with a thickness of about 1/4-inch.
- Brush entire surface with melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips, and hazelnuts all over.
- Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 equal wedges (triangles).
- Beginning at the wide outside edge, roll dough inward.
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 Rugleach
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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!More Rugelach Recipes
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!!!!!
Thanks Carmen!
These flavors sound delicious. Love the “pizza” photo. It makes so much sense to do it that way. Love it!
Thanks! The “pizza” method saves a lot of time :)
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!
It’s really fun to make! You can make them big or bite sized :)