So, they’re no overwhelmingly pretty, but this rugelach recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, low-carb, and super tasty! Next time, I’ll roll this a little tighter, so the layers are more distinct, but that did not effect the flavor! At 4 net carbs per cookie, they’re not too shabby for a treat!
Edit: It’s come to my attention that rugelach is not as well-known as I had thought. Basically, it’s a cream cheese-based cookie with cinnamon, chocolate and/or jam in the center. The cookies are usually rolled into individual crescent shapes. Because these have no sugar or wheat to bind, I made some alterations to the preparation, so they aren’t exactly traditional…but they’re low carb and delicious!
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Ingredients:
- 8 oz (typically one package) of cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup of pecans, pulverized in a food processor (one cup, before pulverizing, that is!)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 10 drops of liquid stevia (or the equivalent of 1 tbs of sweetener – I like SweetLeaf Vanilla Creme, and use it a lot)
- 1/4 cup of sugar-free chocolate chips (or chopped up sugar free chocolate)
Method:
- Grab a cooking tray and line with parchment, or a silicon baking mat.
- Mix ground pecans, coconut flour and cinnamon thoroughly in a bowl.
- In a separate (larger) bowl, mix the cream cheese, vanilla, sweetener and cinnamon.
- Combine the dry and wet mixtures until a uniform ball of dough forms.
- Either on the parchment or baking mat (or, if you have neither, a piece of plastic wrap), roll out the dough until you form an oblong disk, about 1/4″ thick. If the dough is too soft to work with at this point, toss it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes, and then shape into a disk.
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- Sprinkle the chocolate over the disk, making sure to leave a two-inch space at one end (for rolling purposes).
- Carefully, using the parchment/silicon mat/plastic wrap as a guide, roll up the dough and chocolate into a log. You might get some tearing, and that’s okay! it can be fixed. Work the dough gently for the best results.
- Chill the dough for another 10 minutes. The oven should be preheated.
- Cut the log into 8 equal pieces and spread on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 25 minutes – the tops should be golden and the chocolate should just be melty.
- Enjoy!!
Nutrition:
- Calories: 240
- Carbs: 8g (4 net)
- Fiber: 4g
- Fat: 23g
- Protein: 5g
Well after having a go at this I’ve got some comments/thoughts as the recipe sounded interesting…..
It would be helpful if you told us if the 1 cup of pecans was before being pulverised or after or perhaps just give the weight of the pecans like the cream cheese, then it wouldn’t matter.
My experience so far is that the chilling makes little difference, I didn’t chill at all and they haven’t spread. I used two layers of cling film with the mix sandwiched in between, very easy to roll out and to roll up, very little mess.
Have you considered adding an egg or egg yolk to bind things. If these work I might try this next time.
Just waiting for them to come out of the oven, 10 mins left…..
Thanks for the feedback. You are right – it is confusing that I wasn’t more specific with the pecans! It was one up before grinding (I’ll clarify that above).
I didn’t have cling wrap, and my cream cheese had softened considerably, so chilling was necessary for me, but I’m glad you were able to make it work without the extra step!
Enjoy when they come out; they are for sure one of my favorites. :)
Hi Liz,
Most likely the reason mine didn’t spread was I had about 3/4 cup pecans after blitzing in the food processor. The mixture was quite stiff. With less pecans I imagine it will be a little wetter.
They look quite nice, texture is good but between last night and this morning I’ve come down with a cold and this morning I can’t taste anything except sweet/salt, so I know they are sweet but little else, they did smell nice cooking last night, should have had one before bed! Very frustrating. Will add some egg yolk next time and see how it affects things.
Thanks for the recipe.
Kate