I’ve never been much of a holiday person, but for some reason, I’m feeling especially festive this year. So far, I’ve published a gift guide, bought an advent calendar, drank my first glass of honest-to-goodness eggnog (thanks Organic Valley, for sending me my first carton of eggnog ever!) as well as dedicated an afternoon to making Christmas wreaths with a friend (although my wreath was beyond ugly and not even worthy of Instagramming — Tumblr and Pinterest make it look so easy, dammit).

Unfortunately, because all those things are primarily Christmas-related, my Jewish side is feeling a little bit left out. And with Hanukkah already underway, I decided it was time to celebrate with a batch of Nutella rugelach:

Growing up, traditional rugelach filled with jam and nuts always appeared around the family table during Yom Kippur and Purim. As a little kid, I always avoided the stuff. At the time, cookies with nothing but fruits and nuts just seemed like the most depressing thing and ruined the whole point of, you know, cookies.

Little did I know that I was kind of missing the point of rugelach — because rugelach is basically pie crust, rolled up into little crescents resembling mini croissants. Fresh from the oven? It’s flaky, buttery and everything you want good pie crust to be. The fruit and nut filling is almost an afterthought. Almost.

Because as an homage to my childhood, I decided to whip up a batch of rugelach that my young self would heartily approve of: rugelach filled to the brim with Nutella. I spent last Friday afternoon testing out different fillings — jam, peanut butter, halva (as the wonderful Molly Yeh recommends), almond butter… but the clear winner for me was Nutella. No surprises there since I’ve basically been having a love affair with the stuff since my youth (and yep, I just admitted to loving a sandwich spread on the internet), BUT the very competitive and way-too-close-for-comfort second place winner? Speculoos, the gingerbread cookie butter that is basically dessert crack. I stuffed a test batch of my rugelach cookies with a generous swirl of both Nutella and Speculoos and ohhh boy, those cookies were devoured within minutes.

Other test batches included more solid ingredients to give my rugelach the somewhat gritty texture I remember from my childhood. Contenders included mini chocolate chips, chopped up nuts like pistachio and hazelnut and dried fruit like cherries, peaches and strawberries. I was fully expecting my sweet tooth to proclaim chocolate chips the winner, but I found that they were too one-dimensional and didn’t add anything special to the Nutella rugelach. Instead, the dried cherries worked best, adding a wonderful chewyness to the cookie’s texture, as well as bursts of tart fruity flavor that played well with the Nutella.

I’m including the recipes for both the Nutella and Speculoos / Nutella and Dried Cherry combinations, but know that the recipe is super flexible and you can swap out my fillings with your preferred fillings. Happy Hanukkah!

Some baker’s notes:

    • I’ve written the recipe the way I made the rugelach — using a food processor to cut butter and cream cheese into the dough. The trick is to just pulse the ingredients for a few seconds at a time until they come together; do not overmix the dough or you’ll be in danger of tough cookies! I realize that not everybody has a food processor though, so note that you can also make the rugelach by hand by cutting the cream cheese and butter into the flour using a pastry blender or two knives. Stop when the dough forms large curds.

 

  • Rugelach usually comes in two shapes — pinwheels (where the dough is rolled around the filling and then sliced into individually cookies) and crescents, like you see here. Crescents tend to be more labor intensive, but they’re the shape I remember from my childhood and so I’m biased and think they have a better texture. To get the crescent shape, you roll the rugelach dough into a circle and then proceed to slice them into wedges. This process is greatly helped by a pizza slicer (if you’re looking for a good pizza slicer, I recommend this beauty by Savora), but you can also use a sharp, serrated knife or a bench scraper.

 
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Get the Recipe: Nutella Rugelach, Two Ways

Servings: 32 cookies
Author: Michelle Lopez
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Ingredients

For the Rugelach Cookie Dough

    (makes around 32 cookies)

    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
    • 4 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes

    For the Nutella and Speculoos Filling

      (enough for 16 cookies, or half the batch)

      • 1/4 cup Nutella
      • 1/4 cup Speculoos

      For the Nutella and Dried Cherry Filling

        (enough for 16 cookies, or half the batch)

        • 1/3 cup Nutella
        • 1/4 cup dried cherries, cut into 1/2 and 1/4 their size (you want them the size of chocolate chips or smaller)

        For the Rugelach Glaze

        • 1 large egg
        • 1 teaspoon cold water
        • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

        Equipment

        • A food processor
        • a pizza slicer

        Instructions
         

        For the Rugelach Cookie Dough

        • In the bowl of a food processor with the blade in, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Pulse for a few seconds until the flour and salt are fully incorporated. Scatter 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cubes and 4 ounces cold cream cheese cubes and pulse the machine for 1 to 2 seconds at a time, 6 to 10 times. Pulse just until the dough forms large curds, but don't work it so long that it forms a ball on the blade. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and pulse one more time to get rid of any excess flour/inconsistencies.
        • Turn the cookie dough out on a clean, lightly floured surface and use your hands to gather it into a loose ball. Use a bench scraper or a sharp, serrated knife to divide the ball in half. Shape each half into a disk, before wrapping the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerating for at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day.

        To Fill, Shape, Glaze and Bake the Cookies

        • When the dough has thoroughly chilled and you’re ready to bake the cookies, centering 2 racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 (F). Line two baking trays with parchment paper, or, preferably, a Silpat mat.
        • Start with one disk of dough from the refrigerator. If it is too firm to roll easily, leave it on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes before you begin rolling. Lightly flour your surface and roll the dough into a 12-inch circle, before using an offset spatula to spread 1/4 cup Nutella and 1/4 cup Speculoos over the surface of the circle.
        • Once the Nutella and Speculoos have been spread evenly, use a pizza slicer to cut the dough into 16 wedges, starting by cutting the dough into quarters, and then cutting each quarter into 4 triangles. Starting at the base of each triangle, roll the dough up so that the cookie becomes a little crescent shape. Arrange the crescents on one baking sheet, making sure the points are tucked underneath the cookies, and refrigerate the baking sheet containing the cookies while you roll out the second disk of dough.
        • Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the second disk of dough, this time spreading the remaining 1/3 cup of Nutella over the dough circle as well as scattering 1/4 cup dried cherries evenly over the surface.
        • In a small bowl, whisk together 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon cold water. Use a pastry brush to spread the eggwash glaze over each crescent, before sprinkling 2 tablespoons granulated sugar over the cookies.
        • Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets from top to bottom at the midway point (I rotated mine at 12 minutes). Bake until they are puffed and golden, before turning out on to wire racks to cool. The cookies are best served warm, around 20 minutes or so from the oven.

        Notes

        Dough Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours
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