Christmas

Kolaczki

by:
December  5, 2016
5
1 Ratings
Kolaczki
Photo by Posie Harwood
  • Makes about 4 dozen
Author Notes

The recipe for these pretty little Polish holiday cookies comes from the Nielsen-Massey archives. Cream cheese makes the dough extra-tender; experiment as much as you like with fillings, anything from jam to frangipane to chocolate hazelnut spread laced with oats will be delicious. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided into 2 3/4 cups and 1/2 cup
  • 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 cup jam
Directions
  1. Beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), and salt until light and fluffy.
  2. Add the egg and beat well.
  3. Add 2 3/4 cup of flour and mix until the dough just comes together. Press the dough into a disc (it will be sticky), wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
  4. Once dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350° F. Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup of flour with the confectioners' sugar and roll the dough out, dusting it as much as needed in the flour/sugar mixture, to 1/8" thickness. Cut the dough in 2 1/2" squares and transfer the squares to parchment-lined baking sheets.
  5. Spoon about a teaspoon of jam on the center of each square of dough, and spread it slightly in a line. (Don't add too much jam, or the cookies won't stay closed.) Fold up two opposite corners of the square that have less filling and press firmly to close—you need to make sure the dough is pressed together or it can pop open while baking.
  6. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, or until just golden brown. Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving, if you like.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • JerrySnow
    JerrySnow
  • 3jamigos
    3jamigos
  • Michael Kubisiak
    Michael Kubisiak
  • Peppa
    Peppa
  • Posie (Harwood) Brien
    Posie (Harwood) Brien

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11 Reviews

JerrySnow
JerrySnow May 16, 2018
My girl made it. It was really great delicious. My friend also asked her to cook it for https://familyessay.org/academic-writing-service/ to corporate dinner
 
robinn
robinn December 24, 2017
Help - I tried hard to make the corners stick together and thought I'd done a good job, but then during the baking they came apart. Any suggestions?
 
LadyJ
LadyJ December 23, 2019
Whip up an egg white and use it like glue to adhere the two sides! You can also put some on the ends to brown them a little. 🙌
 
Jill
Jill December 25, 2016
I think there must be a typo regarding the amount of jam needed. If this recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, and a teaspoon of ham goes in each one - there's only 24 tsp in a 1/2 cup. Just a heads up for those who don't have a surplus of jam. I did make these last night and they are delicious! I probably used about 1.5 c jam (might have gotten more than 4 dozen - it was 1am and I didn't keep track of the yield)
 
3jamigos
3jamigos December 16, 2016
A friend who is also an avid baker made these for our cookie exchange. The cookie is not very sweet, which is fine but the texture of the cookie itself was flat in terms of flavor and the texture was a bit heavy. Will not be making these again.
 
3jamigos
3jamigos December 16, 2016
Well that was barely coherent, texture was heavy and the cookie lacked flavor
 
Michael K.
Michael K. December 15, 2016
Nice recipe and post. I made these today with one substitute. I used 8 oz. of Greek yogurt (drained) for the cream cheese. The dough was very nice to work with and seemed to bake up right on schedule...18-20 minutes. I choice an assortment of jams for fillings...and tried some dark chocolate chunks that were chilled. Will make these again and have shared with others on my FB.
 
Peppa
Peppa December 15, 2016
This is interesting in that there is an egg added to the dough, usually no egg is used. Is there a reason you decided to add an egg?
 
Posie (.
Posie (. December 15, 2016
Good question! I tried the recipe both ways and preferred the dough with the egg -- it was a little easier to work with when rolling out and shaping.
 
Peppa
Peppa December 15, 2016
Good to know, I will give it a try. :)
 
Teddi
Teddi December 13, 2016
Tried these cookies and I found them delightful! Not super sweet, and the perfect accompaniment to my coffee! I used raspberry and lingonberry jam, and some coconut sugar that I had leftover for depth and caramel flavors. Don't know if I will do that again, but I believe the confectioner's sugar is key in making this a just-right cookie! Without it leaves the dough a bit lacking.