Chocolate Almond Rugelach

There's a strong magnet pulling me in the direction of the kitchen.

I'm having trouble ignoring it.

These might be the problem. They are cooling on the counter.

I was seven or eight when I tried my first rugelach. We lived in Atlanta at the time, and a store called Harry's Farmers Market (looks like Whole Foods owns it now!) was in the regular grocery rotation. In my memory it was part warehouse, part gourmet food shop, with a labyrinth of aisles holding special local and imported items. Mom did a lot of baking when we were kids, but one of the few things she bought were their housemade chocolate rugelach cookies.

Rugelach are my very favorite cookie, for eating and for baking. They are the poster child for easy to make with huge wow factor baked goods. I make them often, and never the same filling twice.

This is the first time I've attempted to duplicate that yummy favorite from Harry's. I don't know what else was in that filling, but I'd bet on some kind of nut and cinnamon.

My version has blackberry jam, toasted almonds, and of course, cinnamon sugar.

The cream cheese dough is so, so easy- three ingredients and a piece of cake to work with.

Don't ya love how it comes together in the food processor?

It goes from floury and loose to slightly wet to large chunks to big ball of dough.

Love that kitchen magic.

There are a million variation possibilities; just substitute any jam/spread, nuts, and sprinkles of sugar. Here is my original recipe for the cream cheese dough and a walnut-olallieberry filling.

This batch subs 1/3 cup blackberry jam, about 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips, 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds, and 1/4 cup sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon mixed in.

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