Marzipan Rugelach

8  ounces		cream cheese – room temperature
8  ounces		unsalted butter – room temperature
3  tablespoons		granulated sugar, divided use
1  cup		all purpose flour
1  cup		white whole wheat flour
2  cups		almond meal
1-1/4  cups		powdered sugar
1/2  teaspoon		kosher salt, divided use
2  teaspoons		almond extract
1/4  cup		egg whites
1		egg
1  tablespoon		water or milk
1/2  cup		sliced almond

Tip: For nutritional information on all the ingredients in Marzipan Rugelach just click on each ingredient name. Then adjust the serving size for any Marzipan Rugelach ingredient with the serving size tool in the nutrition facts area to the right to see how you can save calories, carbs and more.

Dough: Cream the cream cheese and butter in a medium mixing bowl with the whisk attachment on medium high speed until fluffy.
Scrape off the butter and cheese mixture from the whisk and replace with a paddle attachment. Add 2 T. sugar and 1/4 t. salt and beat on medium to combine.
Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour and mix until just combined.
Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured board and shape into a disk. Divide into four equal parts, shape each into a ball then flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic. Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

For the marzipan, add almond meal, powdered sugar and 1/4 t. salt to a food processor and process to combine. Then add the almond extract and egg white and process until a paste forms. Set aside, this can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. This will yield about 14 oz.
When the dough is hard enough that you can roll it easily, take a disk of dough out of the fridge and roll out to about a 9” circle (working with one disk at a time).
Take a quarter of the marzipan, about 3.5 oz, and spread it on top of the dough. You want to first make a ring of marzipan about 1” – 2” from the edge of the circle, then use a spatula or your fingers, press and spread it out as closed to the edge as you can and into the middle of the circle leaving about 1” circle in the middle without marzipan. So basically you’re making a donut shape marzipan layer on top of the 9” circle of dough.
Then cut the circle into 12 triangles, first cut the circle into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds. I used a pizza cutter for this step.
Roll the larger end of each triangle in to make a crescent shape cookie, place cookies on a parchment line baking sheet.
Repeat with the remaining 3 disks of dough and place the baking sheet in the fridge to let the cookies rest.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Beat one egg with a tablespoon of water or milk to make egg wash.
Brush egg wash all over the cookies, spread sliced almond and sprinkle 1 T. granulated sugar over the top.
Bake for 17-30 minutes, until the bottom of the cookies are brown.
Let cool completely on a wire rack, dust with powdered sugar when cooled.