Nutty Cream Cheese Spirals

I have been making these for years and have been holding back on you.

This post is my mea culpa. I’ve been busy (with 345 recipes posted prior to this one) and really have no excuse as to why I’ve slacked off on the spiral-sharing. (Maybe it’s the same reason I haven’t shared my peanut butter cookie recipe yet- which is to say that there is no good reason at all, just a hell of a lot of other sugar-filled things happily getting in the way.)

I love cream cheese, and jump at any chance I can get to work it into a pastry dough- especially one that houses a toasted walnut and brown sugar and cinnamon concoction… and especially one that gets rolled up into cute little spirals that make eating that much more fun.

So, sorry for not posting this sooner. But after a few hits like the Chocolate Cake Ice Cream Cones and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches (worthy recipes as perfectly good excuses for this unacceptable delay), I’m sure you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.

:)

PASTRY:

1 cup butter (salted), room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese (1 package), room temperature

2 teaspoons sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 egg white lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon (for glazing)

FILLING:

1 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar (for sprinkling tops of spirals before baking)
1. PASTRY: In a large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until soft. Sift flour into bow and mix to form a dough. Divide in half and flatten into two separate discs in plastic wrap; allow to chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. FILLING: In a medium bowl, mix walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 375º and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4. Working with one half of the dough at a time, roll out to a circle about 11″ in diameter. Trim edges with a knife, using a dinner plate as a guide.
5. Brush the surface of the dough circle with the egg white glaze and sprinkle half of the filling over the circle (leaving a small border at the outside of the circle).
6. Cut the circle of dough into quarters, and then each quarter into four sections (forming 16 triangles or what will look like long, thin pieces of pie).
7. Starting from the base of the triangles (the outer edge), roll up to form spirals.
8. Place spirals on prepared sheets and brush with egg white glaze. Sprinkle with sugar and bake 15 – 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool an a rack.
Tips:
- You can use pecans instead of walnuts, or any other nut for that matter.
- Make sure you toast the nuts before using them… the taste is so so so so so SO much better. Spread out on a baking sheet and toast in hot oven for 8 minutes of so.
- Rolling out the dough will be a lot easier with flour on hand to sprinkle on your rolling pin and work surface. I had to use a lot because I don’t think I added enough to my batter, but whatever. I recommend lifting the dough circle up and making sure it isn’t sticking to the bottom of your work surface as you roll… just spin it around and sprinkle flour underneath every now and then.
- Chocoholic? Yeah, you could totally add a few mini chocolate chips to the filling and officially die happy.
- These freeze well, so you can bake them now and thaw them in an instant when you decide you have to have them. Just make sure to eat these the same day (or two) you make them or thaw them for the best texture.
- Enjoy!
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August 2nd, 2014 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Cinnamon, cream cheese, Nuts