Cookies and Candids

My grandmother used to make the best Rugelach; growing up, I remember visiting her once or twice a year, and the sweet cinnamon smell of the cookies would fill my senses. My dad remembers her baking them all the time when he was growing up as well. She would make them in different shapes, sometimes in the horn shape (of which Rugelach gets it’s name from), or sometimes she would roll the dough into one long log and then slice it into bite-sized pieces, like mini-cinnamon rolls. My dad also remembers her baking it in the log shape and then eating it that way, in one long cookie roll! That must have been the ultimate treat for a kid! Whatever shape you want to make them in is fine, although if you make the long roll you will have to adjust the baking time. I chose to make mine into the horn shape, which is the most labor-intensive but I find it to be the most aesthetically appealing.

The more traditionally filling is cinnamon-sugar with raisins and walnuts mixed in, so I made half of my cookies that way. But because I’m a chocolate-fiend, I filled the other half of the dough with chocolate! If you want to make a batch that is all chocolate, or all cinnamon-sugar, simply double the amount of filling ingredients listed and forget about the other type of filling ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup Earth Balance margarine, cold
8 oz. (1 package) Tofutti vegan cream cheese
1/3 cup vegan sour cream

For Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
1/2 cup finely ground walnuts
1/2 cup golden raisins, chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tblsp. cinnamon
1/8 cup Earth Balance margarine, melted

For Chocolate Topping:
1 cup finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1/8 cup Earth Balance margarine, melted

Combine and mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl or in a food processor. Add the sour cream to the flour. Cut the Earth Balance and cream cheese into small pieces and cut them into the flour using a pastry cutter, or pulse with the food processor. Your dough will be creamy and a little gooey. Divide the dough into 4 equal balls, and gently flatten each into a disk shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the disks for 2 hours.

While the dough is chilling, you can prepare the fillings. In one small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and golden raisins. Set aside until your dough is chilled. You can set aside your finely chopped chocolate as well.

Once the dough is ready, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Pull out the disks of dough one at a time as you’re ready to roll it (in order to keep the dough cold and easier to work with). The dough is a little sticky, so be sure to lightly flour your work surface as well as your rolling pin. My dough was particularly soft and creamy and therefore sticky, so I placed my disk of dough in between two pieces of parchment paper and rolled over it that way. Roll each disk into a 9-inch circle.

Brush a thin layer of the melted Earth Balance on top of each disk. Evenly divide and spread the cinnamon-sugar mixture on two of the four disks, and sprinkle the chocolate pieces over the other two. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut each disk into 12 evenly sized triangular wedges. Gently pull out individual wedges and roll the dough from the widest edge towards the pointed end, so that the pointed end is on the outside. Place cookies on the prepared pans, with the triangle points stuck gently under the cookie, so that they don’t unroll during baking. Brush a bit of extra melted Earth Balance on the tops of each cookie roll. Put pans in the center racks of your oven.

Bake the rugelach for 22-23 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.