Vegan Rugelach Cookies

Using a teaspoon, scoop the 8oz of butter into small pieces and place in a bowl. Freeze for 20 minutes.

Place 4 pieces of cling wrap on the counter

For the dough, place the 2 cups of flour, granulated sugar, zest (if using), and salt in a large food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add cream cheese in small scoops, then pulse until well combined. It will start to come together into pea sized pieces of dough while also remaining a bit crumbly. Scrape sides and bottom. Add butter and pulse until butter is broken up and a cohesive dough just starts to form. Do no overprocess.

Remove dough from food processor and separate into 4 even pieces. Place each on cling wrap, form into a thick disc, wrap, and place in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Before taking out of the fridge, prepare the filling. Place filling ingredients in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Turn on until mixture is very finely processed and crumbly. Nut and raisin pieces will be the same in size and evenly distributed. Mixture will stick together when you press between your fingers. Scrape into bowl.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 2 small rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. (Quarter sheet size)

Add 1/2 cup additional all purpose flour to a small bowl. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and set aside. Dough softens very quickly, so it is imperative to work quickly in these next steps.

Generously flour your clean work surface. Working quickly, remove 1 disc from the fridge. Flour top of the dough and rolling pin generously. Roll out to 8-inches wide (no larger), a little over 1/8-inch thick. Add more flour under the dough if it starts to stick. Scoop 1/2 cup of the nut and raisin mixture onto the rolled dough and evenly distribute, pressing in gently, and leaving 1/2-inch boarder with no filling around the edge. Using a pizza wheel, slice into 12 equal pieces. (You can start by slicing down the center, then down the center in the other direction, to form quarters. Then, slice each quarter into 3 equal pieces to get 12.)

Quickly and gently roll each triangle towards the center with your fingertips (and with help of a bench scraper or offset spatula if needed). Place on the baking sheet. Repeat. All 12 should fit in 2 rows on the baking sheet. You might hit a small pocket of soft/melted butter here and there, this is normal. Place filled baking sheet in the fridge. Repeat rolling of dough steps with 1 more disc of dough. Place cookies on second baking sheet.

Remove first baking sheet from the fridge. Lightly brush cookies with melted butter and sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar.

Place both baking sheets in the oven for 27-33 minutes on separate racks. Rotate pans after 15 minutes. Cookies are done when starting to look light golden brown at the edges. Let cool for 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack. Let cool another 20 minutes before eating. Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Once baking sheets are completely cool, replace parchment paper and repeat steps with remaining 2 discs of dough.