Peanut Butter and Jelly Rugelach

A grown up cookie gets a nostalgic update.

Traditional cream cheese dough is not sweet and it dawned on me it might just be the perfect canvas for a childhood (and lifelong) favorite- peanut butter and jelly.

This recipe is a bit rough, I need to do a final test or two to nail down filling quantities, but this will get you very close. So many of you have asked and I wanted to make these accessible for the holidays, so here you go! For this first batch I used strawberry preserves, but truth be told, I prefer my peanut butter sandwiches with blueberry so either will do! Grape jelly is thin and will likely run right out of the filling when baked so if you want to go grape, try to find a thicker preserve.

My grandma never came to visit without a big container of these for us. And, we always couldn’t wait to dig in! She went with squared edge cookies to catch all of the filling. Her filling was “traditional” and I’ll share that at a later date. In the meantime, have fun with these!

The dough-
2 cups all purpose flour

8 oz (2 sticks) butter, pref salted (Grandma’s preference)

1 8oz package cream cheese

2 egg yolks

*1/2-3/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)1 egg, beaten (with 1 tsp cream, optional)

Turbinado sugar or cane sugar for finishing

For the filling-
8+ oz strawberry (or blueberry) preserves, go thick

1/2 cup salted peanuts, finely chopped

1 cup organic peanut butter, unsweetened, unsalted no oil added

1 cup confectioners sugar

Prepare the dough-

Cut butter and cream cheese into chunks. Add flour and salt (if using) to a large bowl. Give a few quick stirs to distribute. Add butter cream cheese and egg yolks and combine using a pastry cutter or food processor until a pebbly mass forms. Try no to over mix. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently bring it together to form two discs. Wrap tightly in wax paper and refrigerate two hours or overnight. Dough may be frozen to use at another time. You may use a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, but the dough with not be as flaky.

The filling-
In a spacious bowl using a fork or pastry cutter, combine peanut butter and sugar. You should tend up with a crumbly paste like consistency. If too gummy, add more sugar 2 Tbs at a time.

Assemble-
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment (1 if baking 1/2 batch)
Roll dough on a well floured surface into a rectangle (for squared edge cookies) or a circle (for a triangular, croissant shaped cookies).
Spread preserves in an even layer over dough going to edges. And offset spatula makes this easy. Sprinkle peanut butter crumble mixture over surface as evenly as possible breaking up any large clumps. Next, shower the surface with the chopped peanuts and then gently press down with the palms of your hands so peanuts don’t go flying when you roll the dough. Any remaining chopped nuts or crumble may be reserved for topping.
Using a pastry or pizza wheel, cut dough into even strips if going rectangular or triangles if you’ve rolled a circle (like slicing a pizza). Starting with the end closest to you, gently roll cookies into shape. If rolling triangles, begin with outer edge and roll toward the center of the circle.
Place formed Rugelach on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

bake-
While chilling, preheat oven to 350F.
Beat egg for egg wash and brush chilled cookies. Lightly sprinkle with turbinado or cane sugar. Of you have any remaining chopped peanuts or pb crumble, you may also sprinkle over the tops.
Space cookies about 2” apart and bake one tray at a time on the center rack. If rectangular in shape, about 25 minutes if triangular, about 20. You want a golden finish all around with tender, just cooked centers. Some of the jammy filling will ooze out. That’s okay. Baking times are approximate and will vary depending upon the size of your cookies. Be careful not to over cook as you want a nice tender center with a slightly crispy shell. Remove from oven and place baking sheet on a rack to cool. If cookies are on the darker side, remove from tray using a small spatula and allow to cool directly on the rack.
Once cool, store on an airtight container or freeze.
You may also freeze prepared uncooked cookies to bake another time.
Enjoy!

Rectangular roll which maximizes the amount of filling. These were down without egg wash.