Festive Holiday Rugelach

Total Time: 48 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 18 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)
• 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups miniature m&m baking bits, divided
• powdered sugar

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 degrees f. lightly grease cookie sheets; set aside.
• 2 in large bowl cream butter and cream cheese. slowly work in 3 cups flour. divide dough into 6 equal pieces and shape into squares. lightly flour dough, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate at least 1 hour. combine remaining 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
• 3 remove one piece of dough at a time from refrigerator; roll out on surface dusted with flour-sugar mixture to 18x5x1/8-inch thick strip.
• 4 combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. sprinkle dough strip with 2 tlbs sugar/cinnamon mixture. sprinkle about 1/4 cup m&m's on wide end of each strip. roll dough starting at wide end to completely enclose baking bits. cut strip into 1 1/2 inch lengths; place seam side down about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.
• 5 repeat with remaining ingredients. bake 16 to 18 minutes until golden. cool completely on wire racks. sprinkle with powdered sugar. store in tightly covered container.
• 6 ***variation***.
• 7 for crescent shapes, roll each piece of dough into 12 inch cirle. sprinle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. cut into 12 wedges. place about 1/2 tsp m&m's at wide end of each wedge and roll up to enclose baking bits. place seam side down on prepared cookie sheets and proceed as directed.