My Chocolate Roll Cookies are made with buttery, tender dough wrapped around a rich chocolate filing, then sliced into mesmerizing swirls. Delicate, crumbly, and melt-in-your-mouth, they’re finished with a dusting if powdered sugar and are the kind of nostalgic nostalgic Israeli cookies that’s perfect alongside your afternoon (or weekend morning) coffee
Despite the resemblance and their Jewish roots, these are not Rugelach Cookies. In Israel, they’re simply called rolled cookies, with the filling added to the name: chocolate rolled cookies, date rolled, cookies, walnut rolled cookies and so on. They’re one of my favorite nostalgic addition to my growing collection of Cookie Recipes.
And of course there are tons of dough recipes, including my mom’s sour cream base dough. Which I found to be a bit too heavy, so I took the liberty to make some changes so the dough bakes into a tender, melt-in-the-mouth texture complementary to the filling.
Baking Made Simple (and fun!)
This recipe is the kind you roll up your selves and feel the dough with your hands. And I find it very therapeutic.
The secret is the dough. Cold butter coats the flour with dat, limiting gluten formation as the water is added. The result is a buttery, tender and crumbly dough that practically melts into your mouth instead of baking into a dense cookie.
Make The Dough
Because this dough is rich in fat, it’s important to let it rest for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight. Chilling allows the butter to firm up and gives the flour time to fully hydrate, making the dough stringer, easier to toll and less likely to tear.
Rolling and filling
The buttery dough can make quit the sticky mess. It is best to roll, fill and roll again (hence, rolled cookies) when the dough is cold.
When making the insertion, only cut the surface of the logs, just to expose the first layer of the filling. Cutting too deep might squeezing the dough too much.
Storing and Freezing
It is best to store the cookies at room temperature in a sealed cookie container. Will be fresh for up to 7 days.
To freeze: place the cookies in a freezable bag, and freeze for up to three weeks. When ready, remove from the bag and allow to reach room temperature before serving.
Buttery and Tender Chocolate Rolled Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 Cups (500g) AP Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Cup (225g) Unsalted Butter, cold cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 TBS (12.5g) Sugar
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) Water
- 1/4 Cup (60ml) Vegetable Oil
- 2 Cups Chocolate spread (Nutella is best)
- 1/2 Cup (60g) Powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the flour (500g), sugar (1 tablespoon), baking powder (2 teaspoons) and butter (225g) and mix until the butter is the size of peas.
- Add the water (120g) and oil (60g) and mix just until large and moist lumps of dough have formed.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and mix with your hands to form a ball. (mix just to combine)
- Divide the dough into 4 even parts (shape as a rectangle disk), wrap each piece with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for minimum 1 hour or preferably over night.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking pans with baking paper.
- Rolle each piece to a 12×8-inch rectangle and spread about 1/2 cups of the chocolate spread.
- Roll the dough starting from the wide end. Once you have rolled the dough, place it in the baking pan and using a sharp knife make horizontal insertions ,along the dough, making sure there is 1"-1.5" space between each insertion. (Cut it just until you notice the first layer of the chocolate. )
- Repeat the same with the rest of the dough parts and bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let cool for 10-15 minutes and then cut it into cookies using the iterations as guide lines.
- Once the cookies have completely cooled, dust it with powdered sugar.
Video
Delicious! I just made these cookies and they look and taste amazing. My house smells sooo good right now!
Yay!! so glad you liked them!!
They turned out amazing! I can say for sure that these are my new favorite cookies to bake!
That is AWESOME!!! so glad you liked this recipe!
Can you freeze these?
Yes, these rugelach cookies can be frozen for up to u weeks. Make sure to use a freezable bag or an airtight container. I like to warp them in groups of 5-7 using a plastic bag then place them in the bag or container. When ready to eat, remove from the freezer and allow to reach room tmeperature.
When you roll them do you start with the shorter side or longer side
I roll them from the wider, longer side.
I’m ready to bake these delicious looking cookies. These will be excellent holiday cookies, thank you. Happy Holidays
yay! so happy you like the cookies!
Question. A local bakery does awesome chocolate rugelach. They don’t use Nutella. It’s just chocolate. I’ve tried to make them but I can’t get the chocolate right. Any ideas?
Yes, my guess is that they have their own chocolate-filling recipe. Try this one https://www.onesarcasticbaker.com/traditional-chocolate-babka/
Just want to double check that the baking time of 40-45 minutes is correct…that’s an incredibly long time to bake a sheet of cookies at 350 degrees. Is it a typo or is it truly 40-45 minutes? These look delicious and I want to make them. T
Yes, the time is correct 40-45 minutes, the cookies need to bake from the outside in. Pay attention to the bottom of the cookies, if they are too brown mid-way of the baking time, consider using a double pan.
Hi, I was wondering if you can use a hand mixer or food processor. I can’t wait to make these. Thanks Paula
Awesome question. Hand mixer might work but it can get tricky since the butter is cold. A food processor is a great option, the only thing that might happen is you might get some layers in the cookies, not a bad thing! Let me know which method you used and how it turned out,
I think I’ll try the food processor for step 1 only 🙂
I can’t wait to try these. They look so good. I will be making these this week for the holidays. Question ❓ I only have a mixer. No kitchen Aid. It’s to heavy for me. Will it still work for me? Thank you
Hi Nanna,
Yes, you can use a hand mixer, it should be just fine.
HI,
Love your blog! These cookies look amazing! Can I use another type of chocolate?
Thank you.
Hugs,
Teresa
Thank you so much Teressa, yes, you can use any type of chocolate spread, even Biscoff butter, date spread or peanut butter.
Great recipe! The dough is easy to work with and comes out a bit crispy and flaky – perfect!