One of my all time favorite cookies is rugelach—a scrumptious crescent shaped cookie made from a cream cheese dough.  I decided to use my rugelach dough to make hamantaschen and eureka!  This recipe for hamantaschen made with a rugelach dough, may be one of my favorite hamantaschen yet.  I call my hamantaschen made with cream cheese dough rugentaschen. Here’s a recipe for rugentaschen filled with peanut butter cream and drizzled with chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

Dough

  • 8 ounces or two sticks of butter
  • 8 ounces of cream cheese
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Filling

  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup marshmallow cream

Egg Glaze

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water

Cinnamon Sugar

  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ cup sugar

Ganache:

  • 2 ounces chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup heavy cream

Dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and cream cheese until well combined.  Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add the flour and the salt and beat until just combined.  Divide the dough into quarters and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.

Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the peanut butter and marshmallow cream.

When you are ready to make the hamantaschen—Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take out one of the refrigerated doughs and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness.  This dough gets sticky quickly, so work the dough when it is cold in a cool kitchen.  I sometimes sprinkle on some confectioners sugar on both sides to prevent sticking. Place the rolled out dough in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to harden a bit.  Remove the cooled, rolled out dough from the refrigerator and with a 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut out as many 3-inch circles as possible.

Place about ½ teaspoon of the filling in the center of each dough circle.  Beat together the egg and water.  Dip your finger in the egg glaze and paint the edges of the circle with the glaze.  Pull up three sides of the dough to make a triangle and fold one side over the other around the center filling.  Folding the sides over each other ensures that the cookie will stay closed and maintain the triangle shape.  I find that if I just pinch the ends together, they pop open during baking. Brush on some of the egg glaze around the sides of the triangle, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Repeat this process with the remaining dough, as desired.  The dough will keep in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Place in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the hamantaschen are in the oven, prepare the ganache.: Place the chocolate chips in a small mixing bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small pan, then immediately pour over the chocolate chips.  After about 5 minutes, whisk the chocolate chips and cream together to make a smooth and shiny glaze.  Drizzle the glaze over the hamantaschen.

Makes about 20 to 24 hamantaschen.