Marzipan Filled Rugelach
These buttery, soft, and flaky bite-sized cookies never last long in my home. Especially when filled with sweet, nutty marzipan.
Although they look fancy, rugelach are really quite easy to make.
At first glance, the “total time required” to make these cookies may seem intimidating, but very little of that is “active” time. Most is resting time, first for the dough, then for the cookies once they are filled and rolled up.
A few pulses in the food processor are all it takes to pull together the butter and cream cheese dough for the cookies. I like to add a teaspoon of almond extract to my dough to echo the almond in the marzipan, and it just smells so delicious!
Once the dough has rested it’s simply a matter of rolling each disk out to a circle, spreading on the marzipan then cutting the dough not triangles and rolling up to form a crescent shaped cookie.
To help the cookies keep their shape during baking, allow them to rest, refrigerated, for at least 30 minutes.
A quick egg wash, a scattering of slivered almonds and a sprinkling of sugar and the rugelach are ready for the oven.
Once cooled, all that is needed is a dusting of powdered sugar and you have a pretty little treat that are a welcome addition to any Holiday cookie platter or for gifting to your marzipan loving family and friends.
Storing or Make & freeze
Store leftover rugelach in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
Both the rugelach dough and shaped, unbaked rugelach can be made ahead, wrapped, airtight, and frozen up to 4 weeks before using. If freezing the unbaked cookies, don’t apply the egg wash, slivered almonds and sugar until ready to bake.
For best results, thaw in the refrigerator overnight, wrapped, before using.
Create your own rugelach fillings
The filling options for rugelach are endless. Apricot or raspberry preserves are probably the most traditional, but any flavour of jam will be delicious.
Brown sugar and cinnamon, with chopped nuts and dried fruit is another scrumptious option.
And of course I can’t leave out a chocolate option! A chocolate ganache that has been let cool enough to thicken, or for a quick and easy option simply use nutella. Both make wonderful fillings for rugelach.
Ingredients
- 225 grams cold cream cheese cut into 1-inch pieces
- 225 grams cold unsalted butter 2 sticks, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 5 ml almond extract
- 255 grams all-purpose flour plus more for flouring work station
- 3 grams fine sea salt
- 454 grams marzipan (2 x 227 gram packages)
- 1 egg
- 15 ml milk
- 64 grams slivered almonds
- 12.5 grams granulated sugar
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Cut the butter and cream cheese into 1-inch pieces and place in a food processor. Let rest for about 10 minutes. They should still be cool, but slightly soft.
- Add the flour and salt to the food processor and pulse 4-5 times, scrape down the sides of the bowl and sprinkle in the almond extract. Continue to pulse, just until the dough forms large curds but not so long that it forms a ball on the blade, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, about an additional 4-5 pulses.
- Transfer the dough to a clean workstation and gather it into a ball. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, and shape each into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day.Note: if you are not using all the dough right away it can be wrapped airtight, and frozen for up to 4 weeks.
- Working with one disk at a time, roll out the dough on a clean, lightly floured surface to a 23cm 9 inch circle, about 3mm/ ⅛ inch thick. Gently spread ¼ of the marzipan on top of the dough.Note: if the marzipan is too hard to work easily, cut into chunks and heat in a microwave 10 seconds at a time, mixing with a whisk or fork, until the paste is soft enough to work with. Alternatively, you can use a double boiler and let the heat and steam soften it.
- Using a pizza wheel or a sharp knife cut the circle of dough into quarters then cut each quarter in half creating 8 triangles.
- Starting at the wide end, or base of the triangle, roll up the dough to form a small crescent shaped cookie. Place the cookies, narrow tip tucked beneath, on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 4 cm / 1½ inches between each cookie. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Repeat with the remaining three disks.
- Preheat oven to 175°C/350° F
- Whisk together the egg with a tablespoon of milk. Brush the cookies with the egg wash and scatter the sliced almonds overtop. (hint: lightly press the almonds into the dough so they will stick to the cookies during baking) Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through for even baking.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.