Jump to recipe

Sesame and Sesame Cocoa Rugelach

Sesame and Sesame Cocoa Rugelach

Since weekends are now suddenly full of free time, today was a good opportunity to try a new recipe. Rugelach is an Israeli bakery shop staple - soft, chocolaty goodness…. Mmmm, carbs… Sorry, I might’ve just drooled a little. 

Anywho, I thought I’d try this recipe for yeasted rugelach, and it came out quite delicious! I put a little spin on the original by making a sesame filling using tahini. I couldn’t say no to chocolate either, so this batch features both straight sesame and a cocoa sesame variation. You could get quite creative with the filling - if you don’t have tahini, some Nutella and butter or your favorite jam would do just fine.

This recipe does make quite a lot of pastries. I think you can easily cut this recipe to a third (1 egg, 1 tbsp yeast, etc), or you could freeze these in freezer bags and defrost when the craving for deliciousness strikes, or pack ‘em up and drop them off outside your friends’ doors for a sweet surprise. 

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

  • 50 pastries
  • 1.5 hour
  • 30 minutes

Ingredients

Dough

  • 7.5 cups flour
  • 3 tbsp instant yeast
  • 5 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups milk, slightly warmed
  • 200 g butter/ about 15 tbsp
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp coarse salt

Filling

  • 1 cup tahini
  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Egg wash + syrup

  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar

 

Directions

For the dough

  1. Add flour and yeast to bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir  together. Add all other ingredients except salt.
  2. Knead for 2-3 minutes on low speed, then add salt. Continue kneading on low speed for another 7 minutes, until a soft and pliable dough is achieved.
  3. Shape into a ball, place in a bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let dough rise for about 45 minutes. Dough should approximately double in volume in this time.

Filling

  1. In the mean time, prepare your sesame filling by boiling 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup sugar for a syrup. Whisk together with 1 cup tahini.
  2. If you’d like to make half your batch with sesame cocoa, divide filling into two bowls. Into the chocolate bowl, add 1/2 cup cocoa, 2 tbsp water, and 1/2 cup sugar. Stir together.
  3. If mixtures are too thick to spread, add a tbsp of water and mix until a spreadable consistency. Be careful not to make it too soupy.

Assembly

  1. Once dough has completed rising, tip unto clean work surface and split into 4 parts.
  2. Roll out one part into a long rectangle. Spread filling over half the rectangle, then fold over to cover it with the other half. Roll this rectangle again as thin as possible. If some filling comes out, do not stress - it’ll all be delicious! Just try to add a little less filling to the next one, or add a little tahini to thicken your paste.
  3. Now cut long triangles out of your rectangle. Roll each triangle from the wide part to the narrow point of the triangle. Place rugelach on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  4. Repeat with the other 3 parts.
  5. Preheat oven to 350F.
  6. Let the rugelach rest for 30 minutes
  7. Beat 1 egg and brush over all pastries
  8. Bake for 30 minutes
  9. While pastries are baking, bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to boil.
  10. Once pastries come out, spoon syrup over each one. 
  11. Let pastries cool for 10-20 minutes, then enjoy!!

Looking for something else?

Check out more recipes here!