- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup (66 g) sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter
- ½ cup (half an 8-ounce package) cream cheese
- 1 egg, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 Tablespoons + 3 Tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
- ¾ cup (4 ounces or 125 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped
Whisk the dry ingredients — the flour, salt and cocoa — together, and set aside.
Right now you might be asking, “If I’m whisking the dry ingredients together, why not the sugar?” Interestingly enough, because it melts into wet ingredients so easily, it is usually considered a wet ingredient.
With a mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. If your dairy is cold, it will cream up perfectly well, but clumps of it might stick in your mixer blade(s); knock it off with a rubber spatula, or turn up the speed and let centrifugal force do it for you. Attaining fluffiness should take two to three minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.
Mix in the dry ingredients a spoonful or two at a time. If you try to do it all at once, a cloud of flour will poof up into your face. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, and pat it into two slightly flattened disks on a floured countertop. Wrap the disks in waxed paper or plastic wrap, and leave it in your refrigerator to chill for an hour or so.
After your dough has had a chance to chill, preheat your oven to 350°F. Take one of the disks out of the fridge, flip it over and press it down on a floured countertop a couple of times to coat it with flour, so it won’t stick, then roll it out into a 10-inch circle. It’s useful to keep a tape measure for baking situations like this.
Slather the rugelach disk with three tablespoons of jam, and sprinkle half of the chopped chocolate over it. Cut it into eight to 10 slices, the way you would a pizza. Roll each of the triangles up, starting with the wide end. They should look a little like crescent rolls. Put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Repeat the process with the other disk of dough. Chill them in your refrigerator again for another half an hour or so, to discourage them from losing their shape as they bake.
Brush the rugelach with egg white, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, switching and rotating the pans halfway through. Cool for 15 minutes or so on the baking sheets, and dust them with powdered sugar, if that’s a thing you feel compelled to do.
Chocolate and raspberry are a classic combination, and a faint hint of sourness from the cream cheese makes these excellent holiday cookies.
Featured Photo: Bourbon-Cider Sour. Photo by John Fladd.