Today’s the day when more than 600 food bloggers will post about the 22,000 cookies that were baked and shipped around the world as part of the first ever Food Blogger Cookie Swap!
I had such a blast participating in the inaugural swap and want to thank the bloggers at Cooking with Books and The Boys Made Me Do It for satisfying my holiday sweet tooth with double chocolate chip cookies, peppermint marshmallow treats and pecan balls.
My cookie of choice for the swap was Mint Chocolate Rugelach, which feature chopped Frango mints, cinnamon and sugar rolled inside tiny twists of cream cheese-based dough. A quick bake in the oven yields buttery, flaky rugelach flavored with a hint of mint. I made four dozen of the bite-sized treats and shipped them to my new food blog buddies at Hungry Hungry Runner, Foodness Gracious and Cafe Terra.
Thank you to Love & Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen for organizing the swap, and happy holidays (and baking) to all!
Ingredients
For the cream cheese dough:
- 1 package cream cheese (8-oz.), cold and cubed
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 2 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for rolling out the dough
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the mint chocolate filling:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups chopped mint chocolates (Recommended: Frango Mints)
- 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Make the dough by combining the cubed cream cheese, cubed butter, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the ingredients together until the fat becomes evenly dispersed within the flour (the dough will be crumbly but still stick together).
- Shape the dough into a ball, place it into a bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for one hour or up to one day.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it into 4 pieces. Place 3 pieces back into the refrigerator.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Place the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface, and using a rolling pin, shape it into a disc of approximately 1/8-inch thickness. The dough will be very hard, so it's best to first beat it down with a rolling pin (as if you were making puff pastry). It will loosen up as it comes to room temperature.
- Immediately brush the disc with one-fourth of the melted butter and sprinkle it with one-fourth of the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Sprinkle one-fourth of the chocolate onto the disc, pressing the chocolate into the dough.
- Cut the disc into 12 wedges.
- Roll each wedge up, starting from the thickest end, until you form a crescent shape.
- Repeat the process with the other three balls of dough.
- Transfer the uncooked rugelach onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking. (You can also freeze them at this point for later use.)
- Bake the rugelach for 18-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
- ★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
Nutrition
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Recipe adapted from BellaOnline.
So much easier than I thought they would be, and super delicious! Looking forward to making more of your holiday cookie recipes:)
Thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Patti!
My mother and I made these together and they were to die for. I always assumed it was way too complicated to make rugelach myself, but this was so easy. Thanks for sharing this recipe, I’m sure I’ll be making them for years to come!
These sound delicious!! I don’t think I’ve had a rugelach before, not even sure how to pronounce it. haha!! Adorable packaging by the way!!
Truth be told, I still have trouble pronouncing it!
OH my, these look and sound amazing! Need to pin these ASAP! Found you through the cookie swap!
Thanks Katie! Please do pin away :)
Hey Kelly! So after our e-mails, I decided against substituting anything for the butter and just went for it…and they came out delicious, and look awesome!! Thanks for this great recipe to share with my family this holiday season :)
Hi Shaina! I’m so glad to hear you tried the rugelach and they turned out so well. Happy holidays and I’m excited to stay in touch!
I am a huge rugelach fan but never would have thought to make a chocolate mint version! These sound delicious!
Thank you, Lauren – enjoy!
I’ve made rugalach before, but never with chocolate (let alone MINT chocolate). I hope you don’t mind but I’m so inspired I’ve included this post in my Friday Food Fetish roundup. Thanks for sharing and MOAR please :)
Thank you! Love your site and am honored :)
amazing! I wish i would have had or made time for this! So fun!!!
These look amazing!!! Wish I had gotten a box. :) So glad you participated…we had a blast organizing it. :)
You guys are such rockstars! It was so much fun and I cannot wait for the next one :)
These sound really delicious, and different!
Love, love, LOVED these! They were amazing and I’m definitely going to try to replicate them soon! Thank you so much! :)
oooo these look delicious with that dough and chocolate combination, yum!
Hey Kelly, I loved these cookies and was excited to taste the mint with the chocolate, such a good combo! Thanks again for taking the time to make AND wrap them so nicely! Awesome!!! :)
Take care..
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Gerry! I’m thrilled to have found your blog through the swap and look forward to continuing to follow all of your culinary adventures.
I am obsessed with the mint/chocolate combination… plus that cream cheese dough sounds divine!
I promise you won’t be disappointed, Jamie! I love anything and everything involving cream cheese dough.
So pretty!! And they sound divine!
Thanks, Linds! You are the reason these cookies even happened :)
what a fun idea! i love the mint chocolate in these :) beautiful packaging too!!
Thanks so much, Julie! I see we were both channeling the mint/chocolate combo for our Cookie Swap contributions. Love it!