Chocolate Chip Rugelach

Samson's Deli had the most amazing chocolate chip Rugelach...I'd never seen them anywhere since so I had to find a recipe...this one is pretty close to what I remember. They are wonderful!

Rugelach are a cross between a cookie and a little rolled up pastry. They are a Jewish sweet that is traditionally rolled into a crescent-shape. The word rugelach comes from the Yiddish "rugel" which translates into “royal”. These pastries are now mainstream, and come with a myriad of fillings, including many that include jam and finely chopped nuts. The dough is traditionally cream cheese dough, which some believe to have been developed in the U.S. by the Philadelphia Cream Cheese company. This recipe uses a chocolate chip, walnut and cocoa filling, and is probably my favorite of all the rugelach I have made. These take a bit of time, as the dough needs to chill and then rolled and cut, but I find these extra steps to be well worth the effort.
Here goes:

For the cream cheese dough:
2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter,softened
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 large egg yolks

Chocolate Chip Filling
¾ cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
¾ cup finely chopped walnuts
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon unsweetened powdered cocoa
½ Teaspoon cinnamon
Combine all of the above ingredients in a bowl and set aside

Glaze:
1 beaten egg yolk
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
Combine the three ingredients above and set aside.

To make the dough, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. In another large bowl, beat together the butter and cream in a mix-master or hand held mixer until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour mixture until it is just combined. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, and knead the dough just until it is smooth. Then divide the dough into halves, and shape each piece into a disk. Wrap each disk in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours or overnight.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough at a time into a large round. Spread half of the chocolate chip mixture evenly over the dough. Using a pizza wheel, pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into about 16 wedges. Starting at the wider end, roll each pastry up in jelly-roll fashion, ending with the pointed edge resting on top of each cookie. Roll the remaining rugelach in the same manner.Preheat the oven to 350F.

Lay the cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet or on a silicon mat. Brush each pastry lightly with the egg wash. Bake the rugelach until they are golden, about 25-30 minutes, watching closely to make sure they do not burn on the bottom.